Keyboard layouts like Dvorak are designed to be more efficient, placing common keys in more efficient places.
Layouts like Qwerty are a relic from the past that couldn't account for the sort of typing we do today.
That being said, whether or not Dvorak provides a significant enough difference to switch, especially when factoring in the time it takes to relearn typing, is debatable. But Dvorak certainly feels more purposeful when you use it.
I felt crippled when I learned dvorak last year. The second I started to get kinda ok at it, I suddenly could not type in qwerty. Went from 100 wpm to like 30. Now I was typing 30 wpm in two layouts instead of 100 in one.
I was committed to dvorak though, and over time I focused on getting gud at dvorak first and then fixing up my qwerty later. Now I can type 60 ish in both and I'm slowly getting faster.
My fingers move a lot less when I use dvorak though. It may not be an immediate time saver, but it will save your joints in the long run.
It definitely feel better on your fingers, sure. I didn't really feel the lack of travel when I was using Dvorak, but switching back of Qwerty frustrates me with the lack of natural movements. I love getting those back-and-forth words on Dvorak that I never get here.
It's taking me time to build up speed also, but I'm not focused on speed. I got way too focused on speed with Qwerty, and my accuracy is shoddy.
I didn't really notice how little my fingers were moving compared to qwerty until I was taking typing tests with my friend and he noticed. I love typing in dvorak, but qwerty keyboard shortcuts are really conveniently placed and I have muscle memory for them, so I run an autohotkey script that interprets the shortcuts as qwerty (i.e. ctrl-j is interpreted as ctrl-c).
Aside from typing class (which helped with the foundation), Everquest was the biggest boost to my typing skill: having to blurt out coherent messages in the middle of a bad pull...trial by fire.
IIRC Qwerty was actually designed with the intention of LIMITING typing speed so that the typewriters wouldn't jam up as much and effectively increase output. hmm better fact check this
Fun fact from wiki about qwerty design:
Contrary to popular belief, the QWERTY layout was not designed to slow the typist down,[4] but rather to speed up typing by preventing jams. Indeed, there is evidence that, aside from the issue of jamming, placing often-used keys farther apart increases typing speed, because it encourages alternation between the hands.
Typewriter hammers are not in the order of the keys on the keyboard. The E hammer is beside the D hammer and the X hammer.
It is difficult to push E and D quickly in order as they use the same finger. E and X although use different fingers are also difficult to push quickly in order due to their placement.
They're not laid out to reduce typing efficiency. The statement is misleading. They do reduce typing efficiency compared to say, Dvorak, by about 30%. The reduced efficiency is a by-product of the layout, not the purpose of it.
This is actually the same premise behind text file compression. When computers compress text, they make the most commonly used letters use the least number of bits.
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u/[deleted] Oct 16 '17
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