I am sure most of you have heard of this keyboard layout. It was designed by a thoughtful guy who realized that, with improvements in typewriter technology, the qwerty layout, a sort of non-design, could be phased out and replaced with something more tailored to the English language.
The layout is good. No doubt, it is very useful to have all of the vowels on your left hand, the major punctuation on the top row where the QWE are. Indeed, I am sure for whatever language was in use at that time, it was fairly close to ideal.
After a year, I am pretty expert at it. I decided to give layout a real try, and here I am. It's not that great. Though surely being able to move your fingers less sometimes, like if the word is "beautiful" or "Seamus," is great, the benefits are mostly ergonomic, not speed-based. I think that with Dvorak - particularly if the typis t has only ever used it - the chances of repetitive strain problems are much smaller and they may reach a higher level of efficiency than a QWERTY user. But, for those of you on QWERTY, the switch is not really worth it.
That is my conclusion: while Dvorak is superior from a design standpoint, it does not really make a very big difference in performance. It goes without saying (though I will say it) that the time that you take learning it will far exceed the time you save by typing in it. Then, the only major benefit is the better ergonomics and their likely effect on helping prevent RS. I think that correct posture, finger placement, and wise use of breaks to relax your hands will be enough to lower tha t risk. Remember, even though the layout is better, you are still typing, and you'll still have to reach for letters - and these days, the W should really be in a better place.
end exposition
The layout is good. No doubt, it is very useful to have all of the vowels on your left hand, the major punctuation on the top row where the QWE are. Indeed, I am sure for whatever language was in use at that time, it was fairly close to ideal.
After a year, I am pretty expert at it. I decided to give layout a real try, and here I am. It's not that great. Though surely being able to move your fingers less sometimes, like if the word is "beautiful" or "Seamus," is great, the benefits are mostly ergonomic, not speed-based. I think that with Dvorak - particularly if the typis t has only ever used it - the chances of repetitive strain problems are much smaller and they may reach a higher level of efficiency than a QWERTY user. But, for those of you on QWERTY, the switch is not really worth it.
That is my conclusion: while Dvorak is superior from a design standpoint, it does not really make a very big difference in performance. It goes without saying (though I will say it) that the time that you take learning it will far exceed the time you save by typing in it. Then, the only major benefit is the better ergonomics and their likely effect on helping prevent RS. I think that correct posture, finger placement, and wise use of breaks to relax your hands will be enough to lower tha t risk. Remember, even though the layout is better, you are still typing, and you'll still have to reach for letters - and these days, the W should really be in a better place.
end exposition
