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I learned Dvorak 16 years ago. To avoid carpal tunnel surgery... I practiced 1 hour daily for 3 weeks, then flipped my personal and work computers to Dvorak.. I

I learned Dvorak 16 years ago. To avoid carpal tunnel surgery... I practiced 1 hour daily for 3 weeks, then flipped my personal and work computers to Dvorak.. It took me another week to become comfortable. So I would say it takes one month... To learn. . It doesn't matter to have the correct label on keys... You are not supposed to look at the keyboard anyway.

gnicholas 5y ago
Cool, good to know. I figured the labeling wouldn't matter once you're comfortable with it — I just didn't know how much of a pain it is to learn if you have no reference for what key is where. I could imagine it would take a long time to really solidly learn where uncommon keys are, and I wouldn't want to be hunting around for them every time I need them. Do you use Dvorak on mobile as well? Is it a pain to use QWERTY devices when you encounter them?
- Comevius 5y ago
  In the beginning your will be constantly hunting for keys, which will hurt, but it will get much better with practice in a few days. Just practice the way you naturally touch type. In a month you will be able to do it just as comfortably as you did before. This kind of learning is procedural memory, it's like riding a bicycle, you don't forget it, you just get a bit rusty over time. You will be able to use both layouts.
- elviejo 5y ago
  It's not difficult at all to use qwerty. And I don't use Dvorak on mobile... Although I should probably try it.
- travisd 5y ago
  I learned Dvorak because I knew I would never work out the bad habits I had with QWERTY. Dvorak is a HORRIBLE layout for mobile, but I used it for about a month while learning Dvorak and it really helped. It’s horrible since you often type in mobile with one hand which means your fingers get tired quickly from moving between the sides of the keyboard. I’ve never really had issues going back to QWERTY keyboards (no more so than usual slight frustrations when moving between slightly different keyboards).

gnicholas 5y ago

Cool, good to know. I figured the labeling wouldn't matter once you're comfortable with it — I just didn't know how much of a pain it is to learn if you have no reference for what key is where. I could imagine it would take a long time to really solidly learn where uncommon keys are, and I wouldn't want to be hunting around for them every time I need them. Do you use Dvorak on mobile as well? Is it a pain to use QWERTY devices when you encounter them?

Comevius 5y ago
In the beginning your will be constantly hunting for keys, which will hurt, but it will get much better with practice in a few days. Just practice the way you naturally touch type. In a month you will be able to do it just as comfortably as you did before. This kind of learning is procedural memory, it's like riding a bicycle, you don't forget it, you just get a bit rusty over time. You will be able to use both layouts.
elviejo 5y ago
It's not difficult at all to use qwerty. And I don't use Dvorak on mobile... Although I should probably try it.
travisd 5y ago
I learned Dvorak because I knew I would never work out the bad habits I had with QWERTY. Dvorak is a HORRIBLE layout for mobile, but I used it for about a month while learning Dvorak and it really helped. It’s horrible since you often type in mobile with one hand which means your fingers get tired quickly from moving between the sides of the keyboard. I’ve never really had issues going back to QWERTY keyboards (no more so than usual slight frustrations when moving between slightly different keyboards).