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June 20, 2008

Like a Virgin : Typing for the very first time

I have four friends now all using the dvorak keyboard layout. I decided I would take the plunge and try it out for six months or so and see how it goes. So far it's slow going. Because I was interested in dvorak conversion stories, I figured I would share my story.

I'm sure that I won't get this under my belt overnight, and that I'll have to be patient with myself. I haven't written much code (or much of anything for that matter), but many of the common characters I use are better available to me. I can see the potential, if I can learn to make it work. If you're considering the switch, be prepared to type similar to your grandma when she first got a computer.

One caveat I would point out is that I couldn't quite get the Gnome tools at System->Preferences->Keyboard to work properly. It may have been a PEBCAK problem, but if it was, there's a usability bug that needs to be looked at. I eventually broke down and fixed it the old skool way by editing xorg.conf Granted, changing keyboard layout isn't something lots of users do, so maybe it could just use a bit more polish. Any pointers are appreciated.

Update: Quick tip for ubuntu dvorak converts: apt-get install dvorak7min It's a typing tutor similar to the ones I used on the old Apple IIe's at school.

5 Comments | Tagged as: dvorak

Comments on "Like a Virgin : Typing for the very first time"

June 22, 2008 @ 08:06
Christer Edwards said...
I switched to Dvorak in Jan 07 and it took me about 3 weeks to be comfortable again. At this point I'm much faster and *much* more comfortable than I ever was with qwerty. I never put stickers on my keys though. I actually blacked them out so I was forced to memorize them. Part of the efficiency is truly being a touch typist, and if you peek at the keys, well, you're cheating ;)
June 21, 2008 @ 07:06
H3g3m0n said...
I remember giving Dvorak a try a while back, I did like the letter layouts however I quickly gave it up when I realised how horrible it is for coding and terminal commands which is most of the typing I do, the ; key is to far away for example and 'cd ..' is harder to deal with. The other problem is the fact that you have to deal with the rest of the world and will end up swapping back and forth (avoiding doing this this while learning) or continuously changing settings on other systems. I do recommend it to any people who are typing normal sentences such as writers though as it does seem a much better system for typing such stuff. I have also killed my typing efficiency by trying to learn true touch typing, before I had a system where my fingers would move around the home row rather than stay fixed, this means I don't use my pinkie or ring fingers as much, forinstance i use my index not middle finger to hit the 'c' key and do occasionally need to look but to see the location of my fingers rather than where the letters are but not as much as a non-touch typist. Since I tried to learn true touch typing I am stuck in some kind of hybrid typing style.
June 21, 2008 @ 02:06
Achim said...
@Bert Van de Poel, I am from Germany and I could select the dvorak keyboard layout. @Paul, There was one problem I noticed. I had to drag the dvorak layout to the first position in the list, so that it was "activated". There is the possibility to choose which layout should be default but it seems that this "check box" doesn't have any affect. Regards Achim
June 21, 2008 @ 01:06
Bert Van de Poel said...
I checked it out and you can find dvorak as one of the options for the UK though I think they should put it separately cause what has dvorak to do with the UK ?
December 30, 2008 @ 22:12
ethana2 said...
I think gnome keyboard configuration leaves quite a bit to be desired in general, but I think they're making good progress.
I've never met a dvorak typist, but me and two of my friends use colemak.