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Haven't tried learning DVORAK to see how easy I can switch back but as a 12 year vim user, not having access to vim bindings feels like coding with handcuffs. L

Haven't tried learning DVORAK to see how easy I can switch back but as a 12 year vim user, not having access to vim bindings feels like coding with handcuffs. Luckily all major IDEs come with decent vim bindings but I would be afraid to learn another layout because then I'd become dependent on it and I'm not so sure I'd be able to switch seamlessly without a painfully dreaded time window to adjust. Even if it takes a week to go back, previous comments were talking about being productive in a coffee shop or on a work trip which happen rarely. If you spend hundreds of hours with a custom keyboard / layout but then have to switch for 10 hours every couple of months I doubt you'll be feel at home during those 10 hours and I doubt you'll be productive.

leipert 4y ago
Honestly, not that big of a deal, switching between layouts. At some point I switched between DE and US-International where basically all of the characters used for programming are in different places. I still can go back and forth between them. I know people who have tried a bunch of different layouts, and maybe the best comparison is “swimming styles”. The people who tried like more than two, had no problem switching back and forth. If you are a professional swimmer, you will have no trouble switching between styles. For vim and Dvorak specifically there seem to be macros which map Dvorak to QWERTY under the hood if not in edit mode. So you can use muscle memory for that.
snozolli 4y ago
If you spend hundreds of hours with a custom keyboard / layout but then have to switch for 10 hours every couple of months I doubt you'll be feel at home during those 10 hours and I doubt you'll be productive. As someone with literally decades of experience with alternative keyboard designs and character layouts, I can assure you that your fears are ridiculous. It's not in any way a problem to go from, say, a Kinesis or Ergodox running Dvorak back to a QWERTY laptop for a day. You wildly underestimate the human mind and body. Now, learning Dvorak or Colemak after years of QWERTY, that is difficult. Going back, however, is easy.

leipert 4y ago

Honestly, not that big of a deal, switching between layouts. At some point I switched between DE and US-International where basically all of the characters used for programming are in different places. I still can go back and forth between them. I know people who have tried a bunch of different layouts, and maybe the best comparison is “swimming styles”. The people who tried like more than two, had no problem switching back and forth. If you are a professional swimmer, you will have no trouble switching between styles. For vim and Dvorak specifically there seem to be macros which map Dvorak to QWERTY under the hood if not in edit mode. So you can use muscle memory for that.

snozolli 4y ago

If you spend hundreds of hours with a custom keyboard / layout but then have to switch for 10 hours every couple of months I doubt you'll be feel at home during those 10 hours and I doubt you'll be productive. As someone with literally decades of experience with alternative keyboard designs and character layouts, I can assure you that your fears are ridiculous. It's not in any way a problem to go from, say, a Kinesis or Ergodox running Dvorak back to a QWERTY laptop for a day. You wildly underestimate the human mind and body. Now, learning Dvorak or Colemak after years of QWERTY, that is difficult. Going back, however, is easy.