Dvorak vs QWERTY

Question

A friend of mine is trying to convince me to learn to type in Dvorak. The main reason I would consider switching is to relieve the strain on my hands from long periods of typing.

Is it worth the effort to learn a new keyboard layout? For those of you who have switched, have you found your typing faster or felt less strain on your hands? I am especially interested in whether it could reduce one's chances of developing repetitive strain injuries.

(Related thread: What is the best way to learn Dvorak?)

Answer 1

If it's an issue of relieving pain and Dvorak indeed relieves that pain, then by all means switch!

NOTE: The downside to learning Dvorak is that when you use other peoples' computers (at work, the library, etc...), you usually won't be able to switch the keyboard layout to Dvorak and consequently you may become frustrated and/or your speed at typing will slow down.

Answer 2

Normally pain from typing is due to poor ergonomics, not the keyboard layout. Though DVORAK may indeed help relieve pain, you may simply want to try a different QWERTY keyboard, such as the ergonomic models from Microsoft or Logitech. You may also look at how your workstation is configured, e.g. chair height, elbow/wrist angle, etc.

That way you don't have to take the time to retrain your brain for typing, nor do you have to worry about being "odd man out" when you have to use a different keyboard.

Answer 3

It took me 14 days to come up to speed with a qwerty -> dvorak change such that I could actually use it. The first part, where you are trying to unlearn qwerty is deeply frustrating, but then you get the hang of dvorak and begin liking it.

Is it considerably faster than qwerty? No. But one nice thing is that your hands move much less on the keyboard compared to qwerty. Another interesting thing is that there are considerably fewer typing demons on dvorak. I would recommend people to use the layout, provided they can type with 10 fingers. If you usually use 2-5 for typing I don't think you will gain much be a new keyboard layout.

Answer 4

The problem with learning a dvorak layout is that you have already learned qwerty - for a while your going to be reinventing the wheel for something you've got the grasp of since you first were on a computer.

The pro's to dvorak is that your maximum typing speed will be much better - but any off the shelf hardware with a keyboard you will buy won't have dvorak support (or if it does, it will mean ignoring the lettering of the keys)

Last wrinkle - gaming will be messed up , due to most ones using a WASD style movement.

Answer 5

I used to be a four-finger QWERTZ typer for many, many years. (Our keyboards have Z and Y swapped as compared to US ones, so it's QWERTZ rather than QWERTY around here.) One day I got interested in ergonomic keyboard layouts and did some research. I ended up with a layout wildly different from QWERTZ called the “NEO” layout, whose purpose was to be an improvement over Dvorak primarily for German-language users.

After a little training with the help of KTouch, my typing was much faster than I had ever been able to type QWERTZ. I can't tell to what extent this was due to my sudden exposure to real 10-finger typing. Still, I learned a lot and it didn't take much time at all.

Now, the really interesting bit is that I can switch between my old 4-finger QWERTZ behaviour and the 10-finger NEO typing within a few minutes, at most. If you train the new layout properly (personally, I really needed the typing tutor software. I would have been much too sloppy just doing my normal day-to-day typing in the new layout!), I don't think you're going to lose your old typing ability, be it 2-, 4-, or 10-finger-based or whatever.

Therefore, I suggest you give it a try. It's not much work and probably harmless in every way imaginable.

Finally, there is one more thing I wanted to mention: It's not at all clear to me that 10-finger touch typing is healthier than the “jump around the keyboard” 4-finger variety that many get used to without proper training. It's certainly faster, that's true, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that touch typing is actually more strainful and consequently more harmful to your health than freely jumping around. Unfortunately, I lost the reference. Maybe I misremember, anyway.

Answer 6

Bah, the question concerns only those typing in English (granted, most code is in English anyway, but we write docs too...), since Dvorak have been optimized only for this language.

Microsoft used to sell a "Natural" keyboard, with a special layout of keys but classical order (thus no habits to change). My wife uses one. I wonder why there are no longer made (by MS or others).

Answer 7

dvorak config For french language: http://www.algo.be/ergo/dvorak-fr.html

Answer 8

Way back when, I worked as a phototypesetter. That involved straight typing from copy for hours at a time. The typesetter used QWERTY (SHRDLU was for old Linotype operators...).

I had no hand strain. Also, after that practice, I could type about 120-130 wpm.

Most of the time people have strain issues with typing these days, the cause is that the keyboard is too high. Your forearms should be parallel to the floor or sloped slightly down, reducing the angle of the wrist. If you look at old photos of typing or steno pools, the typewriters were always on a desk "typing return" that lowered the keyboard well below the desktop handwriting level.

Unless you change the keyboard height, Dvorak layout won't help with RSI. For most development work, you aren't limited by typing speed so the speed isn't really that relevant.

Answer 9

I decided to find all the posts regarding Dvorak and add this little bit of insight from Reason magazine regarding the Dvorak keyboard:

http://www.reason.com/news/show/29944.html

Summary: Dvorak is to keyboards what Linus Pauling is to Vitamin C (no one could reproduce his results) and the whole "QWERTY is set up to reduce typing speed" is false.

Answer 10

As far as speed goes, I don't know if any layout is superior. The gains I believe are in the amount of general wear and tear on your hands and tendons.

That said, you might want to consider the Colemak keyboard layout, which is suppose to be easier for Qwerty people to learn, but with similar benefits as Dvorak.

Answer 11

The Reason magazine article has been debunked at http://dvorak.mwbrooks.com/dissent.html -- it really says nothing.

While I have no rigorous peer-reviewed scientific studies I can point you to that would say anything good about Dvorak, neither do I have any studies suggesting the opposite. In my personal experience, and this has been echoed by many people I spoke to who have tried Dvorak (though not all decided to keep using it), Dvorak is a lot easier on your wrists -- this is also why I initially switched --.

Many people report to type a lot faster after the initial learning period; my typing speed went from ~400 keys per minute (after almost a decade touch-typing Qwerty) to ~600 keys per minute (after less than three months of touch-typing Dvorak). A few people I know reported typing slightly slower or at roughly the same speed even after using Dvorak for quite a while, but most of them aren't heavy typists, so YMMV.

I don't consider typing faster the major benefit; while I do type a lot, typing faster than I did before is just a benefit, not a necessity. I do consider the ergonomic advantages a major benefit, though; I can still touch-type well in Qwerty, but whenever I switch, I immediately notice the much larger number of awkward/uncomfortable movements it requires.

If you've got a chunk of time where you can afford typing painfully slowly (i.e., vacations), I'd certainly give Dvorak a try, even if you don't have RSI problems yet. You can also try to learn Dvorak without switching right away (e.g., only using Dvorak in evenings), but I've found that to be a lot more frustrating -- my first try to learn Dvorak this way failed, and I only gave it another shot a few months alter. I've been happy with it ever since, though.

Answer 12

Check out the Workman Layout. It's better than both Dvorak and Colemak because it reduces side to side movement which is bad for the wrists.

http://viralintrospection.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/a-different-philosophy-in-designing-keyboard-layouts/