Comments on: Dvorak vs Qwerty

By: David Pritts

David Pritts — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 17:00:21 +0000

Competitive typing is one of my biggest hobbies, and I can use both keyboards. I switched to Dvorak about 3 years ago and it is my main layout now. My record is 199wpm with Dvorak (100% accuracy, short paragraph)

I wish there was more conclusive research on the topic. I may do some myself :)

I do think it’s somewhat compelling that the only recorded world-record holder swore by Dvorak… and her speeds were truly phenomenal.

By: Skip Oberon

Skip Oberon — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 04:06:16 +0000

hee hee, i just actually typed “uaj.xrrtvjrm” and found this blog.

By: Joseph Wroblewski

Joseph Wroblewski — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:10:50 +0000

I have 4 emails that I have made up. The first email describes the differences between QWERTY and DVORAK. The second email has a list of around 1430 words all typed with the left hand on the QWERTY keyboard. The third email has a list around 73 words typed on the DVORAK Keyboard. The Fourth email has the instructions to enable the Dvorak Keyboard

By: OneSide

OneSide — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:40:47 +0000

I have a similar feeling as Chris on this issue. I’m a 100+ WPM typer as well, using the QWERTY lineup, so I’ve never found a need to switch to the Dvorak based simply on a “speed issue”. I may play around with it a little bit though.

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:19:03 +0000

I attempted to switch to Dvorak around 1990 and was surprised at the ease of learning the layout. Within about a week I was typing faster and more accurately with Dvorak. But then reality set in, QWERTY was not going away and the Dvorak was not very portable at the time (and in my opinion it still is not – especially with laptops). My brain wasn’t / isn’t ready to try to keep up with both layouts.

By: Luke Wallace

Luke Wallace — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:41:12 +0000

I’ve been using Dvorak for about 10 years now. It took me a summer to learn, and probably another year or so to get my speed up to where it was on QWERTY. I don’t know how many WPM I type, I don’t think that matters much, I’ve never felt like the speed at which I type is slowing me down. In software development, it’s more important to type the right stuff than to type fast, and figuring out the right thing to type takes a lot longer than typing it.

I don’t get how people think using a QWERTY keyboard layout after you learn Dvorak would be hard, all the keys are labeled! Yes, it’s not as fast for me to type, but I rarely spend much time on computers that I don’t have control over. I can pretty much touch type type on my phone, which uses QWERTY, I think switching back and forth occasionally is probably good for my brain.

I made the switch to Dvorak mostly to be different, and after 10 years of using it, I can’t say I know of anyone else I’ve talked to about it that also uses it, so I guess I’ve succeeded?

I don’t think using Dvorak makes me smarter or better or geekier than anyone else, but it definitely makes me a little different.

By: seif

seif — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:36:00 +0000

i think for someone who want to use Dvorak, he/she should carry his/her keyboard.

QWERTY was made to slow the typist speed as it was problem in old typing machines, so why still using it and raise children that use it too??

By: robert

robert — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:55:23 +0000

I am a Dvorak user, and cannot use Qwerty to save my life. What are your thoughts on Colemak? It is supposed to be more efficient than both Qwerty and Dvorak. I don’t use the Colemak myself but have remapped my Caps Lock button to be a home row BS button a mod i picked up from the Colemak.

By: Richard Laskey

Richard Laskey — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:19:41 +0000

I’m a congenital amputee (born without a left hand), and I’ve went through QWERTY, two hand Dvorak (standard Dvorak), and then to my current system, right hand Dvorak.

Switching takes about two weeks to get to some degree of proficiency, but then you can get on the upswing and it starts to pay back. If you don’t put in the two weeks, you’re probably not going to finish the switch. Now that I use Dvorak-right, however, I can certainly switch back into QWERTY and get whatever tasks done that I need to. There’s a bit of a bike-riding effect, at least for me; that is, once you learn (i.e., QWERTY) you can hop back on after not using it for a while.

And in my case, of course, right hand Dvorak is a dream compared with both two hand Dvorak and QWERTY. I do not get any of the wrist strain which I start to feel using QWERTY on a regular basis.. though I also admit that two hand Dvorak was also a lot better for me. The concentration on up and down movements rather than side to side tracking makes a gigantic difference for me. Whatever you do, my suggestion is to always learn to touch type, because if you rely at all on a modified keyboard you’re obviously going to be out of luck on any other computer system.

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:01:02 +0000

I switched to Dvorak about three years ago. I took a screenshot of the dvorak on my Mac’s keyboard viewer, and set it tiled as my desktop picture. About two days later, I could type at a reasonable pace. About a year later, i’m faster than I was back on qwerty, typing feels much more comfortable, and I can still type on qwerty without peeking at the keyboard (albeit a tad slower). However, when I go back to qwerty, I can feel how crazy the layout really is.

As a side bonus, keep your key caps Qwerty, and boom, instant mini-security system. If you have a password screen up, and someone tries to guess your password, or even if they know it, laoo,rpe != password. And you can keep other people from unscrupulously jumping on your computer. If someone tries to go to ‘uaj.xrrtvjrm’, they’ll probably just find another laptop to check their facebook messages rather than try to figure out what’s wrong with your keyboard.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:54:43 +0000

Dvorak is totally the better option if your just learning to type. It’s faster and much more simple than the traditional qwerty. On Windows, it’s a piece of cake to change keyboards so don’t let that stop you.

By: Bill Webb

Bill Webb — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:37:26 +0000

Can’t imagine anyone who’s a touch typist even being able to switch. I suppose if you were a hunt’n'peck typist or someone who watched his fingers instead of the screen, it wouldn’t be too hard. But I’m like you…I’m too good on a QWERTY to want to confuse myself after more than 50 years.

By: Carly Campbell

Carly Campbell — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:04:00 +0000

There’s been study done on Qwerty vs. Dvorak, but the only problem is that pretty much all research done has been inconclusive in addition to groups being unable to duplicate the results.

That being said, there’s very little actual statistic or scientific fact behind the statement that Dvorak is more simple, or faster.

I personally type in Dvorak, whereas all my friends and coworkers type in Qwerty. Although I prefer the layout, it’s more because it’s what I was raised to use. The argument is somewhat similar to Standard versus Metric – most Americans like standard better because it’s what they were raised with.

I’ve never noticed a true difference in top speed. I know plenty of people who type in Qwerty and we’re at a pretty even speed. The only possible advantage of Dvorak I’ve observed is learning it – many people pick up the layout of Dvorak faster than Qwerty. There’s plenty of theories I have behind this, including that all of the vowels in Dvorak are bunched all together, making some of the very most used letters in an easy spot – nestled in your home row.

All that being said, though, I’ve never noticed a monumental difference between the two layouts, though I don’t think it’s useless to at least try Dvorak for yourself.

The only issue I find with Dvorak is that public computers are always set in Qwerty, and very rarely do you ever have the power to change it, since you’re usually trapped on a Guest account. It’s pretty saddening to force yourself to type in a different layout, like travelling to Mexico and only being able to ask where the bathroom and count to ten. Except, it’s more like typing around 90-100wpm and suddenly slowing to 50-60.

By: legice

legice — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:41:28 +0000

dvorak?never heard of it.I use qwertz and I think the keyboard that you start using and use some more,soon you get the hang of it and know where the keys are,makeing you faster at typeing.but a keyboard made for people that need to type faster? maybe….maaaaybe,but then you need to get the feel of the keyboard and that makes you slower,thus canceling out the speedy effect=)

By: John Kuner

John Kuner — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:29:10 +0000

I taught myself dvorak, and I think I’m a little bit faster in it but I discovered all of my VI / emacs hotkeys were mapped by my brain to location, not letter.

Once you’ve learned, it’s super easy to change a keyboard map on Mac, Windows, or Linux, and have it available to switch back with a hotkey combo.

So Kevin L – give it a shot!