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Type Faster with the Dvorak Keyboard - HowTo.co.uk

(EMAILWIRE.COM, March 18, 2009 ) To coincide with the online publication of “Touch Typing in Ten Hours” – a book about learning to touch type – HowTo.co.uk takes a look at the typing with a DVORAK keyboard…

YouÂ’ve almost certainly used a keyboard to type on at some point in your life, and the keys on that keyboard were almost certainly arranged in the standard configuration known as QWERTY, so-named because of the order in which letter keys appear in the top left. The QWERTY keyboard was first designed in the 1870s and has remained in use to this day despite all the evolutions in technology we we have seen since then.

But did you know the QWERTY keyboard was actually designed to slow typing down? ThatÂ’s right. Back in the old days, type-writers were very prone to jamming, particularly if two keys very close to one another were typed in quick succession. The obvious solution seemed to be to spatially separate commonly used keys on the keyboard. The QWERTY arrangement enshrines this principle.

Unfortunately, the QWERTY layout also makes typing much harder than it needs to be. More finger movements are required than with an optimal design, with a consequent loss of typing speed and a greater exposure to RSI-related injuries. The old mechanical constraints no longer apply, yet we continue to live with their legacy! So, if you want to learn to touch type to lightening speeds, a QWERTY keyboard may not be your best answer.

Alternatives to the QWERTY keyboard

Of course, many alternative forms of typing keyboard have been proposed over the years. Some are extremely innovative and represent radical departures from the standard keyboard design. Some involve very few keys for example, perhaps as few as eight. Access to the full range of symbols is provided through “chording” arrangements which require you to press correct combinations of keys.

The more innovative keyboards require different hardware, however, so unless youÂ’re very adventurous and prepared to spend a bit of cash, you wonÂ’t be able to try them out. A few alternative keyboard designs, though, use the same basic hardware arrangement as the QWERTY keyboard. They simply arrange the keys differently.

The most notable of these QWERTY-alternatives is the DVORAK layout. Conceived in the 1930s after a battery of carefully-designed time and motion studies, its inventor, August Dvorak, believed it could speed up typing significantly while requiring less effort from typists.

Since then, a number of studies have been conducted, generally concluding that Dvorak was right. Typically, typing speed improvements in the range of 5-25% are seen. Some people who switched even claim their typing speed doubled. The worldÂ’s fastest typist used a DVORAK keyboard.

Switching to DVORAK

The best thing about the Dvorak keyboard arrangement is that itÂ’s very easy to try out. In fact, whether youÂ’re a Mac, Windows or Linux user, your operating system almost certainly has built-in support for it. To switch, all you need to do is change the setting. The hardest thing for you will be to remember where the new keys are, because the letter symbols on your keyboard will be unchanged. Printing out an image of the DVORAK layout may help you with the transition.

If you decide you want to commit to DVORAK, sticking with the QWERTY labels will probably be annoying. You could buy little stickers to place on your keyboard in the DVORAK arrangement. Hardware-based DVORAK keyboards are also available, as are dual-mode keyboards which can switch between DVORAK and QWERTY. In some cases, it may also be possible to lever the keys on your keyboard out of their sockets individually and simply move them around. Be careful, though. Sometimes there are subtle differences in the size or shape of keys which make this unworkable in practice.

Speed is of the essence

Switching to DVORAK from QWERTY should take no more than a few weeks of adjustment. During this time, your typing speed will undoubtedly be slower as your muscle memory retrains. If you do a lot of typing though, you may find itÂ’s worth it in the long run.

At HowTo.co.uk, users can read free online books, at no charge or download the PDF or buy the hard copy of the book at our online store.

-Ends-

Notes to Editors

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