3 ms·
This is the biggest thing for me - I use so many different machines on a day to day basis that it just doesn't make sense to use anything other than US qwerty (
by Daneel_ 11y ago
This is the biggest thing for me - I use so many different machines on a day to day basis that it just doesn't make sense to use anything other than US qwerty (in the same way that custom aliases on linux machines just isn't a thing when you do consulting.. You just need to learn the full command or flags and do that by default).
I used a dvorak layout for about 2+1/2 months, and while my speed was on par with normal qwerty, I just found going back and forth to be a nightmare. I had my work USB keyboard (for when my laptop was docked), the laptop keyboard itself, my desktop at home, my laptop at home, my ipad at home.. Not to mention server KVM keyboards and other co-workers' keyboards. Yuck.
I generally really struggle without a lot of the more unused function keys too, like the menu key, which I use ALL THE TIME so I don't have to resort to the mouse. When you make a typo, try moving the cursor into an incorrectly spelled word, then using <menu>, then finally the arrow keys and enter to make a correction in $word_processor next time, I guarantee you'll never look back. It very quickly becomes <back arrow x3-5><menu><down><enter><end> and you're back to typing in under a second.
Keyboards that remove this particular key, and replace it with function are a plague, especially in the mechanical keyboard world.. It's such a shame.
On the flip side, if you only ever interact with your own single keyboard (ie, your job is writing articles/novels/other full-bodied text) then I'd absolutely support a more personal solution such as this.
Me? I'll be sticking to my CODE keyboard and its delicious cherry clears.
- CyberShadow 11y ago> On the flip side, if you only ever interact with your own single keyboard (ie, your job is writing articles/novels/other full-bodied text) then I'd absolutely support a more personal solution such as this. Programming too - I do all work from my home PC. But I think this can also be expanded to using an editor other than vi, using a shell other than bash, or customizing either to the point that you can't use it at their defaults. After years of tweaking and customization, I dread the thought of being forced to get anything done without my current workflow setup. And I think that's OK.
- to3m 11y agoRegarding Dvorak, I've had good success from only ever typing Dvorak on a split keyboard. To this day, 13 years on, I still can't type it on an ordinary keyboard. When I'm using my laptop away from a desk using its inbuilt keyboard - which I don't do much - I use it with the QWERTY layout. Most of the times I need to type on somebody else's computer, they've got a non-split keyboard, so no problem there. And if they do have a split keyboard, I can just look at the keys. I can also do that if I need to use Remote Desktop and it pops up with QWERTY (as sometimes happens). I've certainly found this to work for me, though of course if we were all the same you'd be doing this already and I wouldn't have had to mention it. I suspect it's part of the reason why my QWERTY speed is still OK, on non-split keyboard at least. Most people who see me type on a QWERTY keyboard are very surprised to find out that it's not what I'm used to.