Keyboard layouts: Dvorak better than QWERTY ?

Sigh. This again. Here's my best synopsis on the issue:

The science on both sides is completely inadequate. All studies actually performed are seriously tainted by being run by people with axes to grind. Thus, as much as we don't like anecdotal data, it's really all we have. The studies are also very old, and I would worry that even if they applied to old-style typewriters that they may not apply to modern keyboards, which are much, much softer than the typewriters of the early 20th century.

There is no compelling evidence that there's a huge speed difference between Dvorak and QWERTY. People who have tried both frequently report that Dvorak does feel better, though. Some do not report that it feels easier. I choose the word "feel" with care; it is subjective, but we have nothing much better to go on.

Current science can not prove whether Dvorak can prevent or mitigate RSI, but many people with existing RSI problems have reported improvement anecdotally. Given the difficulty of fixing or improving RSI, I would think these reports shouldn't be entirely dismissed, even if they aren't proof. Science can prove that typing with Dvorak does empirically involve less finger and wrist motion for the same thing to be typed, so at least there is a plausible mechanism for such an effect.

Programmers often complain about the mappings of the [] and the /= keys being reversed. I would say two things: First, if it bothers you, flip it back! And second, your mileage will vary based on your language of choice. My primary language is Perl (professionally), and I once did an actual character count on those characters, and it was as close to even as you could ask.

I type in Dvorak (with Caps Lock mapped to backspace), and I have not gone back, despite the inconveniences it sometimes brings up; the wrist comfort for me wins out. Also, science can't prove it prevents RSI, but it can't prove it doesn't either, so as an informed person, I am acting on the belief that it doesn't hurt and probably helps. I may be wrong. Who knows.

Finally, I think that everyone should consider fiddling with their keyboard, even if you don't choose Dvorak. There are other layouts closer to QWERTY, and other things you can try independently, like remapping Caps Lock to something useful. (I choose backspace, like I said; CTRL is a popular choice.) I'm thinking of trying flipping the digits and symbols so the "4" key gives $ and SHIFT-4 gives 4. Learning an entire new keyboard layout is hard, but learning one key switch is easy; remapping Caps Lock to Backspace takes about ten minutes to learn, and ten minutes to unlearn if you don't like it. The key is to unmap the real Backspace key. I have a theory that one could incrementally learn Dvorak without completely slowing yourself down by flipping one key at a time and learning it over a month or so, but this may destroy your QWERTY skills and I've never actually tried it or heard from anyone who did.

There. I think that about covers it.

I switchedin my early twenties and it's been well worth it. It's not so much about speed, as it is about accuracy, and especially about comfort.

I would recommend in switching that you not move your keycaps around, or draw new letters on your keyboard, or any other mental crutch, but instead simply memorize the new layout. It won't take long, and that small step will hasten your transition.

There were a few interesting side effects during the transition. For the first couple of days, I realized that I could no longer spell some words -- my life is so terminal oriented that much of my rote spelling knowledge was based on muscle memory.

During the transition, it was an added challenge to do everything, and that sort of reminded me of how the older generation of punch card programmers often described their work. Suddenly it became more efficient to think about the problem harder before trying solutions, increasing the chance of success, rather than just firing rapidly from initial thoughts until I had bludgeoned a solution.

I've considered trying different keyboard layouts, but it seems like it would hamper "portability". Nearly every device with a keyboard is QWERTY and mentally switching my muscle memory between a primary workstation and all those other things sounds exhausting.

I completely agree with the bit about losing your QWERTY skills. I wasn't expecting it at all when I switched and was pretty shocked when I discovered I had to hunt and peck on most other peoples machines.

That being said the opposite is also true. I worked for quite a few years in a team environment where other people hopping over your shoulder to "just do something quick" was quite common (and quite annoying). Switching to DVORAK nipped that nonsense in the bud very well.

I can type about 100WPM on Qwerty.

Tried Dvorak for a while, only could get up to 45WPM after months. Not worth it to me at all.