Dvorak beats Qwerty by aoeuhtns much

Last year I embarked on an experiment to try the Dvorak keyboard layout for typing to see if it was easier, better, and more comfortable. I'm a sucker for the contrarian method that is reputed to be better, faster and smarter.

Some background first. The Dvorak keyboard is just a keyboard layout that is designed to make typing easier, faster and more comfortable. It has been proven superior to the dreaded, contorted QWERTY. It is available on the keyboard that you are using right now. Here's a picture of the layout:



Learning it was easier than QWERTY and becoming a Dvorak touch typist was about ten times faster. I taught myself by using this website. Switching your keyboard to Dvorak, and being able to toggle between the two can be done pretty easily in the control panel for Windows (look under languages, not keyboard). Go ahead and play around with it. The letter placement is much more intuitive, the beginning steps are easier to follow than on the QWERTY. Note the home row keys (where your fingers rest on the center row of letters) for the two layouts:

QWERTY:
asdf jkl;

Dvorak:
aoeu htns

Look at the Dvorak home row, especially the two sets of four letters. Vowels to the left, consonants to the right. The other two vowels are on the left - 'i' is next to 'u' and 'y' is on the QWERTY 't', a short jump up from the 'i'.

Think of typing the word 'that' on this keyboard. Roll your right middle and index finger for the 'th', then left pinky for the 'a' and then the right middle for the 't'. No stretchy stretchy. On QWERTY, it would be stretch left and up to the 't', stretch left to the 'h', then 'a' and stretch up and left 't', and with the same hand.

After about a year of use, I can say definitively that Dvorak is much, much better.

Not only will I not go back to QWERTY, but I have found that I can't even if I wanted to. I've lost the QWERTY touch typing ability completely and when confronted with such a layout it is back to hunt and peck. A final knock against it - it doesn't stick in the mind when not used for a while.

So, like the trackball is to the mouse, the Dvorak keyboard is much better and easier to learn than QWERTY, which was designed to be a slow pain in the comma. I recommend that everyone learn it. It is available on every keyboard on every operating system. As a touch typist, you won't need to have the letter stickers on the keys correspond to what you get when you strike them. How many of you will be flexible enough to give it a try? Some won't want to throw away that long and painful investment in learning QWERTY, but Dvorak won't be as long or painful and you'll really crank when you are proficient.

The bigger question is what to do when the younger trackballs are ready to move on from the QWERTY hunt and peck to actual keyboarding? Do I let them join the elephant QWERTY touch-typist club or do I induct them in the enlightened cheetah club of Dvorak typing goodness? In the age of PC's and custom desktop accounts, the choice of keyboard layout is pretty much personal (but your computer support people may be surprised when they try to use it). Dr. Trackball may not like the Dvorak option, fearing that the trackballs will be outcasts, but if I convince her to switch over...