Dvorak7min: The free way to learn Dvorak in Linux | Hacker News Reader

Dvorak7min: The free way to learn Dvorak in Linux

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11 pointsbigmetalman15 comments

I have experience with colemak, not with dvorak, but:

Don't do it for speed. I type exactly as fast in colemak as in qwerty, even after years of using colemak. (110 WPM). The limitation feels to me to be in my brain, not in the keyboard layout. Colemak does feel much more comfortable than qwerty. Although I stopped using qwerty for a month while I initially learned colemak, I have been able to use qwerty or colemak interchangeably since. It takes no effort to switch 'modes'.

The biggest thing I hate about colemak is that it breaks vim keybindings. I actually use this script http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2865 to have qwerty key mappings in vim while having colemak in insert mode

If you're interested in learning a new keyboard layout, I recommend checking out these links before you decide

http://colemak.com/wiki/index.php?title=Easy_to_learn

http://colemak.com/wiki/index.php?title=Ergonomic

Below is from the colemak FAQ on dvorak

http://colemak.com/wiki/index.php?title=FAQ#What.27s_wrong_w...

What's wrong with the Dvorak layout?

The main problem with Dvorak is that it's too difficult and frustrating to learn for existing QWERTY typists because it's so different from QWERTY. Colemak has been designed to be easy to learn.

Placing 'L' on the QWERTY 'P' position causes excessive strain on the right pinky. Colemak doesn't place frequent letters where the pinkies stretch.

'F' is on the QWERTY 'Y' position which is a difficult stretch on normal keyboards.

'I' is very frequent but isn't on the home position.

'R' is very frequent but isn't on the home row.

It is significantly lopsided so that the right hand does too much work.

It's not comfortable to use Ctrl-Z/X/C/V shortcuts with the left hand while holding the mouse with the right hand. Colemak conserves those shortcuts in their QWERTY positions.

Even though the design principles are sound, the implementation isn't optimal because it was designed without the aid of computers.

'L' and 'S' form a frequent same-finger digraph on the right pinky. Same-finger for the pinky is very rare in Colemak. In particular, Unix commands such as 'ls -l' are very uncomfortable to type.

Some punctuation (in particular the curly/square brackets) is less comfortable to type on Dvorak. This affects mainly programmers and advanced Unix users.

Longtime Dvorak user here. Some comments:

- I almost always use my ring finger for 'L', including when typing 'ls', which is fairly comfortable. I only use pinky when coming from a letter that needs the ring finger.

- 'F' is indeed in a terrible spot, I don't know what the Doctor was thinking with that one.

- I use the setting on the Mac that leaves Cmd- shortcuts in QWERTY, so that's a non-issue.

- I've never had a problem using Dvorak with Vim. In particular, I like how 'jk' and 'hl' are on different hands.

- As for speed, I type much faster in Dvorak (~100 wpm) than I did in QWERTY (~60 wpm), but that may be because I learned it around the same time I started typing a lot more frequently, so take that for what it's worth.

Overall I agree that Dvorak isn't optimal but I wouldn't say the jump from Dvorak to Colemak is comparable to the one from QWERTY to Dvorak. Plus, I don't have nearly as much time/interest as I used to for learning a new layout. :P

Colemak:Dvorak::Dvorak:Qwerty

KTouch (http://kde.org/applications/education/ktouch/) is a great typing tutorial, if you're on KDE or don't mind downloading parts of KDE to run it. Supports Colemak, Dvorak, Qwerty, etc.

I found Colemak very easy to learn and regained most of my speed within a week. The only real problem is you have to deal with bad key-bindings, although it's worth it.

For those looking to learn a new keyboard layout, I would suggest that you take a look at Colemak before diving into Dvorak. It's easier to learn (more common keys with qwerty), doesn't break common keyboard shortcuts, and some would argue it's even more ergonomic than Dvorak.

http://colemak.com/wiki/index.php?title=FAQ#What_is_Colemak....

To anyone seeking to switch from QWERTY to some other layout: I highly recommend Colemak over Dvorak. Colemak is supposedly better optimized, and yet it's easier to switch to from QWERTY since many of the key mappings remain the same.

I switched ~2 years ago because while I could always type pretty fast (I think 80 WPM or so) on QWERTY, I could only do so while hunting and pecking. So typing was somewhat tiresome. Now, I type faster because Colemak is specifically designed for touch typing in mind. And I can still hunt and peck on other devices (i.e. friends' iPhones, or library computers), possibly because of my history of hunting and pecking with QWERTY, not to mention the similarities between Colemak and QWERTY.

Not sure if there's an app for it - I just switched my keyboard and that was that. Initially, I was pretty slow, but my speed quickly picked up. For more info, you should check out their website:

http://colemak.com/

Anyone looking to learn a different keyboard layout to qwerty should look broader than dvorak.

Others have mentioned colemak, which is decent but QGMLWY layout[0] does better in testing[1], and with reduced pinky use.

0. The carpalx layouts: QFMLWY is letter-optimised, QGMLWB is fully-optimised (moves the (semi)colon), and QGMLWY keeps ZXCV in place.

1 http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/carpalx/?full_optimization

E: autohotkey exe to try it w/o install: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49319255/AutoHotKey/QGMLWY.exe

Cheap and easy to use. Also does not obscure original key info. http://www.amazon.com/Simplified-Keyboard-Lettering-Transpar...

I am a dvorak user because I never learned to touch type properly on qwerty, meaning, without looking.

I still believe that the layout is more efficient, in spite of studies which say otherwise, but I really don't care one way or the other. It works for me.

I am currently working on qwerty touch typing, without actually switching. I see no reason this should not be possible. I know people that can play mandolin, guitar (picking style), and banjo, and can successfully transition from one to the other as needed, and that is a similar skill.

I'm a Dvorak user. Learning Dvorak didn't help me type much faster. My qwerty was 100, my Dvorak 120. I definitely feel more comfortable typing throughout the day than before, though. I use VIM, and the location of the j,k,h,l keys on the Dvorak keyboard do not really hinder me at all.

I'll be happy to answer any questions about the transitioning process if you have any.

Dvorak is cool, but really, it's just a keyboard layout..nothing to get passionate over.

I got the urge to learn how to touch type in my mid-twenties. I didn't take typing classes in high school because I took programming classes for my tech credits, so I never learned.

I started off using Qwerty but found my hands cramping up. I fantasized about getting an ergonomic keyboard to make it easier but I thought it was strange to have to carry my keyboard between work and home (I didn't want to buy two, they're expensive) Looking at the Typematrix keyboards peeked my interest in Dvorak. I was already trying to learn Esperanto at the time, so what the hell, what's one more oddity to add to my list.

I did dvorak7min everyday for a week or two and completely switched. I've been touch typing using Dvorak for seven years now. I never had the hand cramping issues I had with Qwerty. I am sure if I tried hard, I could type fast but I enjoy how comfortable Dvorak is rather than the raw speed it would bring.

The only side effect of Dvorak was I ended up switching from Vim to EMACS because the hjkl movement keys are no longer on the home row.

Don't worry, I gave up that Esperanto thing. I figured that with the amount of effort I was exerting to learn Esperanto I could learn Spanish. I never did learn Spanish.

I was lucky enough to have parents who understood how important it would be for me to be comfortable with computers, despite the fact that they were not tech-savy at all. I was playing Mario Teaches Typing by age 5-6. I upgraded to the more (hilariously) violent "The Typing of the Dead" for my Dvorak endeavors, though ;)

I highly recommend learning dvorak. I've switched the keys on every MacBook since 2007 and the difference is huge (not just speed either, but mostly comfort/ease). It took about two weeks to bring myself up to the same speed as qwerty, and if you TOUCH type then switching back and forth is no problem at all. Bonus: I often find myself typing with one hand while taking notes or paging a book– with qwerty this was doable with some advanced pecking but in dvorak it just feels easy with either hand.

Caveat... it makes other people look computer-illiterate when they try to use my computers... (so maybe not so good if you share a lot– or at least, switch your keys back once you've tackled the dvorak-touch)

It's always interesting to see all the Colemak users recommend Colemak over Dvorak, without ever trying the latter.

I learned to use Dvorak using this site: http://learn.dvorak.nl/.

Caveat: It took me about (painful) two months to be able to type normally, but I switched back to Qwerty because I couldn't use any other computer without looking like a computer-illiterate.

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