The Dvorak Keyboard


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The Dvorak Keyboard

Origins
The Dvorak keyboard was developed in the 1930's as a replacement for the Qwerty keyboard which had been developed in the 1870's with the invention of the typewriter. The design of the early typewriters was such that they had trouble with keys sticking at faster typing speeds. To get around this the keyboard was deliberately laid out to slow typists down. The unfortunate consequence is that today millions of people are using a keyboard layout that is awkward and which causes them to type slower and more inaccurately than they would have to otherwise.

Learning Tools
Should you make the decision to "go Dvorak", there are many resources, tools, and people available to help you. As for the approach to take, the prevailing wisdom is to use a good typing tutor that properly supports Dvorak and then go cold turkey. When you do go cold turkey it is recommended that you do so during a vacation or a period when you aren't under pressure to type at your usual speed.

Introducing the Dvorak Keyboard

ABCD On-line Typing Tutor

* KP Windows Typing Tutor

The Dvorak Keyboard on the Palm

Alternative Keyboards News Group

*To get the KP tutor to run Dvorak you need to change the settings in the "Advanced Options" which requires the password "love".

My Dvorak Experiences
In July, 2001 someone mentioned to me that they use the Dvorak keyboard. I had wanted to do this a number years ago too but it was impractical at the time. With Windows it is easy to do these days. I was on vacation and so I took the opportunity to "go for it." The first day was awkward and it was difficult finding the letters that my mind wanted to type. At first I used a web and a Windows tutor and now I am now using the Mark Keates' WKT DOS Tutor.

I'm finally feeling comfortable with Dvorak and my speed is not the 50-60 wpm that I once had but it is now consistantly at around 34 wpm and I am able to type as fast as I think without a lot of "stumbling" and back-spacing which was so characteristic of my first few weeks. For those that are interested I logged my daily progress which you can access via the following link:

Daily Log (Jul 26 - Oct 8, 2001):