2 ms·

Switched to Dvorak last Christmas, over the break from work. The bad: - I’m still not as accurate with non-Python punctuation as I was on QWERTY. - no support

Switched to Dvorak last Christmas, over the break from work. The bad: - I’m still not as accurate with non-Python punctuation as I was on QWERTY. - no support on iOS - people need to change my layout if typing on my machine The good: - noticeably more comfortable typing - can be faster for some things - I have been forced to touch type as I don’t use any Dvorak printed keyboards, this has contributed to me typing faster and is generally useful. - I don’t really use other people’s computers - my thumb QWERTY typing on my phone appears to be totally different muscle memory so this hasn’t restricted my learning at all - macOS has a quick switcher for keyboard layouts which makes it very easy to change for other to use my computer. Overall it has been very positive, and I’d recommend to anyone who is likely to type for their whole career (for prevention of RSI), and who can take a month of being unproductive at typing. The learning process was frustrating, but with 2 weeks off work over Christmas - practicing a little each day - I didn’t feel like it slowed down my programming once I was back at work. It slowed down my slack/email, but it was manageable and only temporary.

saagarjha 8y ago
> no support on iOS Are there no Dvorak keyboard apps?
- danpalmer 8y ago
  There are 2-3, I've tried them all and none are really usable. None have had an update in the last year or more, some crash on launch, some are lacking the most basic usability features (double space for inserting a ".", readable fonts, correct layouts, etc).
chillacy 8y ago
You definitely don't want dvorak on iOS, qwerty was designed to maximize distance between keystrokes to prevent typewriter jams, that can only help on iOS where the keyboard is small and thumb taps are big and imprecise.
- danpalmer 8y ago
  I can see your point, although Dvorak was also designed to maximise the back and forth between 2 hands, for typing speed, and that could actually have a positive impact for precision when the whole word is being taken into account. Most typing with thumbs on small screens relies heavily on autocorrect in that way, so I can imagine that Dvorak might provide more information for that to work, even if each character might be less precise by itself.

saagarjha 8y ago

> no support on iOS Are there no Dvorak keyboard apps?

danpalmer 8y ago
There are 2-3, I've tried them all and none are really usable. None have had an update in the last year or more, some crash on launch, some are lacking the most basic usability features (double space for inserting a ".", readable fonts, correct layouts, etc).

chillacy 8y ago

You definitely don't want dvorak on iOS, qwerty was designed to maximize distance between keystrokes to prevent typewriter jams, that can only help on iOS where the keyboard is small and thumb taps are big and imprecise.

danpalmer 8y ago
I can see your point, although Dvorak was also designed to maximise the back and forth between 2 hands, for typing speed, and that could actually have a positive impact for precision when the whole word is being taken into account. Most typing with thumbs on small screens relies heavily on autocorrect in that way, so I can imagine that Dvorak might provide more information for that to work, even if each character might be less precise by itself.