Saturday, June 03, 2006
Dvorak Keyboard
I use the Dvorak keyboard layout on my computer. Most people agree that I am a pretty weird bird, but that is not actually why I started using Dvorak. The actual reason is this: I never learned to touch-type. I went through the first 28 years of my life typing hunt-and-peck style, and I actually got pretty good - something like 28 words per minute (WPM) if I am transcribing something, faster if I don't have to constantly look away from the keyboard. Many times, I tried to force myself to learn to touch-type, and many times I reverted to looking at the keys. I decided that what I should do is put little stickers over the keys so that there was no way that I could cheat.
This seemed like a pretty big inconvenience to my wife, however (and to whomever wanted to log in to my PC at work). As I browsed the web, I came across the Dvorak layout. I read that it was pre-installed on all Mac, Windows, and Linux machines... This allowed me to switch between both keyboards, minimizing the inconvenience of others. All my wife has to do is click on the little DV on the menu bar and change it to the little icon of the American flag.
So my touch typing? I'm not that great, since I don't actually type all that much, but my speed with the Dvorak layout is now about 45-50 WPM. That's fast enough to make me happy - and now I can transcribe stuff. My next goal is to teach myself to touch-type on the standard QWERTY layout, but with the new kid that's not likely to happen.
This seemed like a pretty big inconvenience to my wife, however (and to whomever wanted to log in to my PC at work). As I browsed the web, I came across the Dvorak layout. I read that it was pre-installed on all Mac, Windows, and Linux machines... This allowed me to switch between both keyboards, minimizing the inconvenience of others. All my wife has to do is click on the little DV on the menu bar and change it to the little icon of the American flag.
So my touch typing? I'm not that great, since I don't actually type all that much, but my speed with the Dvorak layout is now about 45-50 WPM. That's fast enough to make me happy - and now I can transcribe stuff. My next goal is to teach myself to touch-type on the standard QWERTY layout, but with the new kid that's not likely to happen.
