It’s been on my mind for years and I heard it can allow for much faster typing speeds. I just took 4 speed typing tests on the QWERTY keyboard and averaged just over 65 wpm. Then, I took ‘lesson 1′ (twice) on the DVORAK keyboard home keys and got a whopping 14 wpm. I guess it will take time for me to ramp up.
Has anyone switched to DVORAK after feeling quite proficient on the QWERTY layout? How long did it take you to make the transition and truly feel at home?
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On the Dvorak Keyboard Layout
It’s a relatively well-known fact that I am a Dvorak typist, and have been for about four or five years now. Just an introduction for the uninitiated, the Dvorak keyboard layout is just a different ar…
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I started, but got busy and had to put it on hold. I already type about 90 wpm, so not sure the improvement would be worth the effort though. :/
You might want to investigate the colemak layout +Jean Egan
http://colemak.com/
Supposedly easier to learn and more efficient.
Oh thank you both for commenting – and thank you for the reference, Brian. Do you use that layout?
I've researched it, and played with it a bit, but haven't made the transition. I was looking at Dvorak when I discovered it as an alternative. I've also looked at steno.
So you've run out of things to do with your time and you thought you'd throw out your hard-earned knowledge and spend hours learning something that works just about as well?
Sounds like fun. Think of the geek kudos of being able to say that you use a different keyboard layout. I'm sure there are masses of practical benefits as well.
Nice Oz, hehe – no, it's that my fingers, wrist(s) and fore-arms often hurt/tingle when I am very busy (as I have been) and I'm looking for an alternative to surgery.
+Matt Mullenweg mentioned in his post changing keyboard format helped him be pain-free so I became more intrigued to try, but am concerned about the drop in productivity – and exactly how long it would take for me to get back up to speed.
Not looking to geek brag – not my style.
Steno – wow +Brian Fields - yea that would be very ambitious. I was happy to not learn stenography when in school although I'm sure it would have been a helpful timesaving tool to have for taking notes. My 9th grade class was the first year it wasn't taught. Thankfully, I took typing class & loved it.
I had taken typing as an elective and thought I'd never use it, in all honesty. My fingers, especially my pinkies would always get stuck in between the keys!
What works for one person may not work for another, but I'm sure you're willing to try anything. Are you getting enough breaks/exercise? I found I had a lot less problems when I started taking more regular breaks and doing things like press-ups in those gaps to get the blood flowing. Now I don't get pain, I'm more productive and I have shoulders like granite.
I've been hiking at least 3x a week, but right – it's not exercising my arms. I should start doing a set of wall-presses every time I use the bathroom.
I'm behind in work, so my stance at my computer is more tense. It gets better when I'm not as busy/behind and I'm more relaxed and less tense when I am typing, too. Gotta remind my brain to relax my arms/fingers when typing and not let the stress get to me.
I'm doing rush development jobs for people at the moment, so I feel your stress. The exercise is my way of loosening up. It's only a few minutes out of each hour and seems to freshen my brain up as well, so problems seem easier.
Thanks for sharing Oz!
Is that a polite way of saying sod off and shut up?
Hehe – no! Not at all!
I know I didn't initially say why I wanted to learn the new keyboard layout – so I appreciate your prodding me to open up. (I just wasn't prepared to share today – you took me by surprise, but thank you as always for your honesty and directness.)
I know I don't tend to want to share my personal concerns with others – and look to approach people and situations with kindness and optimism, which is why I deliberately avoided the why behind my question up there to see if others have switched keyboard layouts. This post is a pre-probing exploration to see if it's worth my time and energy to switch out. Doesn't seem like any people have so far!
I do like challenges and have switched between mac and pc and back again and also recently (within the past 4-5 years) started driving standard rather than automatic transmission cars, so I kind of saw it as another mental challenge that may incidentally lead to less typing pain.
Alternatively to switching my keyboard layout, more exercise is definitely a great recommendation! When I'm in the zone, I do forget to get up and be sure to be active, so another recommendation would be I set a clock for 1 hour and stretch/exercise
I had a shorthand class in 9th grade or so, but steno machines have always fascinated me. 250WPM sounds cool
Recent peripheral involvement in legal proceedings has gotten me interested again.
I'd started looking at Dvorak, Colemac, Frog pad chorded keyboards, etc several years ago, also due to RSI issues.
Lately, I've needed less typing, so it's less urgent of a need and more of a 'when I find more 'free time' thing, hahahaha
Like that'll happen.
Yea, when there's more time, there's less incentive and less likely to happen – when there's less time, more incentive but still not very likely to happen because of the productivity drop. D'oh!
One of my aunts is a court stenographer – her machine (and her hand-written shorthand notes) look absolutely alien. I don't know if I have it in me to do that – but wow – 250wpm does sound extremely cool. Amazing.
If you get carried away in the 'zone', this little utility is GREAT!
http://www.workrave.org/
It's a little timer that will remind you to do stretches, eye focus exercises, etc.
The machines, software and training are apparently frightfully expensive, but this last time, I found an open source project working on very low cost hardware. (noticing a trend here?)
The project lead is a stenographer trying to preserve the technology and break the monopolies involved.
http://plover.stenoknight.com/
But, major spare-time involved here. It's a whole different way of thinking about writing language. Both shorthand and steno are written phonetically, not spelled letter-by-letter.
I'm trying out "Rescue Time" right now. I want to see what it is I'm really spending my time doing on a daily basis.
I feel like I'm spending a LOT of time writing business correspondence (talking about working) rather than actually working, which is frustrating in itself. (Brings me back to my corporate days where we'd have meetings talking about working rather than actually working!) I sometimes have to put blinders on to ignore a ton of incoming emails and just finish a project, then get back to darn emails.
I will definitely check out Work Rave – thank you, Brian!
P.S. Speaking of open source: Have you seen the open source farm equipment – electrical and mechanical plans? Very cool stuff.
I used ManicTime when I was on a Windows box most of the time. I liked that it was fully automatic and I didn't have to remember to track things. I miss it, wish they'd port it to Linux.
One guy in my office loves it. Said it took about 2 weeks to get his wpm to exceed his wpm from the qwerty.
Sean, thanks so much for checking in and reporting his good results! I could live with 2 weeks of being less-than proficient to alleviate the effects of RSI and to possibly exceed my current WPM. I know everyone's different, but knowing how long it took someone else gives me a time period to shoot for.
No problem – his e-mail is stan@jaroop.com if you want to reach out to him.
Oh, thank you Sean. Much appreciation!