[Gslug-general] Learning Dvorak

[Andrew Kvalheim]

I've been using the Colemak (http://colemak.com/) layout for just over
a year now. I never really learned to touch-type on QWERTY so it
wasn't hard to pick this up at all and switching back and forth isn't
any worse because I'm still just hunt-and-pecking on QWERTY. I started
off with just the intention the learn to touch-type and tried out
various layouts for a while before settling on Colemak. Dvorak lasted
about three weeks before I eventually got too fed up with the
positions of the Ctrl+ZXCV hotkeys. I then used Capewell-Dvorak
(http://www.geocities.com/smozoma/projects/keyboard/layout_capewell-dvorak.htm?200827#Impressions)
for a good couple months. That worked well, but I still had trouble
with several common letter combinations and punctuation hotkeys. I
timed the switch to Colemak with the move to a new laptop. The
laptop's keyboard is different enough that I have just formed an
association of the Colemak layout with my laptop, which definitely
eases the transition between computers.

I think the most important thing you can do when learning a new layout
is to -not- immediately rearrange your keys. This will keep you from
resorting to hunt-and-peck when you forget keys, which I think should
help form the right mental connections a lot sooner. Instead, print
off a map of the layout and stick it to the side of your monitor for
reference. I don't think it's a good idea to leave the keys in a
QWERTY arrangement either; this will only confuse you. What I
discovered worked best for me was to arbitrarily rearrange the keys so
that you get no information at all from looking at them. If I could,
I'd use a keyboard with no markings on the letters at all.

On that note, does anyone know of a good (or bad) source of ThinkPad X60 keys?

--
Andrew Kvalheim

On Jan 25, 2008 11:34 PM, Paul DeShaw <zaltar at myway.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>  --- On Fri 01/25, Brian Hatch < bri at ifokr.org > wrote:
> From: Brian Hatch [mailto: bri at ifokr.org]
>
>
> <<...have you considered changing yourkeyboard layout to Dvorak?>>
>
> I had dismissed this possibility years ago, but now I might want to revisit it.  I had assumed my hands would keep trying to type the old way, and it would make it more work than I was willing to put in.  OTOH, I learned to touch-type Thai last summer--but that was completely new, there was no interference from English--although I do find myself switching keyboards to type punctuation.
>
> How long did it take you to learn?  Can you touch-type? That's important, because then it doesn't matter what's printed on the keys.  I do NOT have Thai letters on my keycaps, it's not a problem.
>
> Paul
>
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