I use Dvorak for keyboards and qwerty for thumbs. Keeps them both in muscle memory to some extent, so it's not too painful when I'm using someone else's keyboard.

I can kind of see that: by moving all the frequently-used letters to the edges and mostly away from each other (and keeping frequent letter pairs further apart), it probably makes interpreting taps between letters and things like swipe keyboards easier to execute.

So true. Dvorak user for 20+ years but I find QWERTY to be much better for one handed typing on a touch screen.

I think it's the design goal of having a high chance of switching keyboard side each stroke that makes it so horrible.

Still I would never go back to using QWERTY on a real keyboard, using Dvorak is so much more comfortable.

Obligatory https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9355276

> Finding an Optimal Keyboard Layout for Swype (sangaline.com)

Can't believe that got only a hundred points and was posted only once in 2015. In my head this is an inspiring if not influential article. Glad it's still online at least.

Conclusion hint: it's not any of the established layouts that would be best for mobile!

I still use Qwerty on mobile. Thumbs are completely different muscle memory. No reason to force an alternative layout everywhere.