Learning Dvorak
I'm finally committing myself to learning the Dvorak keyboard layout. I used gtypist to estimate my WPM using the standard keyboard layout (QWERTY); I'm consistently in the 85 WPM range.
Right now I've only learned the home row on the Dvorak layout. For QWERTY keyboards, the home row is "ASDFG HJKL;", but for Dvorak the layout is "AOEUI DHTNS". My typing speed is just a little above 20 WPM, but it continues to increase each day. I'm probably going to start on the second lesson today.
It's amazing what having the right tool for the job can do!
8 comments:
"...the right tool for the job"
Being that you're typing at a whopping 25% of your normal rate and you're spending time doing typing lessons, wouldn't the following be more apt "...the right job for the tool?"
I know, I know, that's mean...
Any particular reason for learning that layout, or just so you can say you can use it?
@Dan - I've wanted to learn the Dvorak layout for a long time now, but I finally have a tool to help me in the process. You might be right, of course.
@Caleb - I've longed believed that the Dvorak layout has a better design than QWERTY, and several of my friends have found that to be the case as well. I have a lot of experience with QWERTY, and I now have a good metric by which to compare Dvorak, so we'll just see how the new layout compares.
This is proof that I have visited your site! heh see ya soon man! :)
- Ben from spanish class
and now that I've read through a bit, I can say I like the site! it's very informative
-Ben
Nice! In the future you can also choose "Other" when commenting, which will let you specify your name instead of appearing as "Anonymous".
Dvorak is ten times better. Read on for proof. I just took a little dictionary file and applied a regular expression to it in Vim to get some... statistics.
With Qwerty's seven home letters ASDFJKL, omitting proper nouns, you can form a piddling 23 common English words:
ad, add, adds, ads, alas, alfalfa, all, as, ask, asks, a**, dad, dads, fall, falls, flak, flask, lad, lads, lass, sad, salad, salads.
These encompass only 2 of the top 100 words used in English: "as" and "all". Pathetic.
Meanwhile with Dvorak's eight home letters AOEUHTNS, you can form 295 English words, which I won't list here, and these encompass 20 of the top 100 words:
the, to, that, he, on, as, at, one, hot, out, use, an, she, then, so, these, see, has, no, than.
20/2 = 10; Dvorak is ten times better. QED.
I'm surprised you left off 'GH' for QWERTY and 'ID' for Dvorak. 10x better is really good using that logic, but I definitely think that adding in the two letters for each would result in Dvorak being a good 40 or 50 times better.
Good call, though, since I'm definitely not a fan of moving my fingers from the keys they're under.
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