# Dvorak Keyboard Layout



## StachuK1992 (Mar 4, 2009)

Does anyone here currently use this?
If so, please comment here on whether you recommend making the "big switch"! 

I'm currently thinking about it, and probably will.


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## fanwuq (Mar 4, 2009)

I think Macky, Tyson, and Shelley use Dvorak. I use Colemak. I think Leyan Lo and Ryan Heise also use Colemak. QWERTY sucks.


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## JBCM627 (Mar 4, 2009)

I have dvorak enabled for my keyboard, although I haven't gotten used to it yet. I have qwerty and dvorak both marked on my keyboard, although I just wrote the dvorak letters on in sharpie, so they are wearing off. If you do switch, its probably still a good idea to make sure you aren't too slow on qwerty.


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## Kirjava (Mar 4, 2009)

fanwuq said:


> QWERTY sucks.



Dunno man, it's becoming quite popular.


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## JBCM627 (Mar 4, 2009)

Kirjava said:


> fanwuq said:
> 
> 
> > QWERTY sucks.
> ...



It still sucks... it was made for typewriters, not keyboards.


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## Ethan Rosen (Mar 4, 2009)

I use Dvorak. Remove all the tiles from your keyboard, put them back on in dvorak, change your default input to dvorak, and never turn back.


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## StachuK1992 (Mar 4, 2009)

I just switched.
This is taking forever to type.


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## Odin (Mar 4, 2009)

fanwuq said:


> QWERTY sucks.



QWERTY rocks!


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## fanwuq (Mar 4, 2009)

Stachuk1992 said:


> I just switched.
> This is taking forever to type.



Good! Stick to it! I never looked back to Qwerty after I switched. In a week, I got back up to my original speed. (I was at ~37wpm when I switched. Now I'm at ~55wpm.)
I did not resticker the keyboard at all. It's all about the muscle memory. Then fingertricks are much nicer on Colemak and Dvorak. Colemak and Dvorak are like 2gen algs, Qwerty is like random not-fingertrick-friendly turns. I'm not sure why, but I always associate Colemak with Roux and Dvorak with Petrus. Learning a better method always increase your speed more than lubing your keyboard.


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## StachuK1992 (Mar 4, 2009)

wow...we really do relate everything to cubes....typed w/ Dvorak!


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## Spyyder (Mar 4, 2009)

I used Dvorak for a while, but had problems with some of my games not letting me rebind the keys so switched back to QWERTY.


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## Tetris Cube (Mar 4, 2009)

fanwuq said:


> Stachuk1992 said:
> 
> 
> > I just switched.
> ...




When I was reading your posts before, I assumed you were a fast typist because you switched... but 55? That really doesn't warrant a switch for me, as I already type over 100 WPM with QWERTY... I max at around 120. My cube average is 45 though, so I suck at that... 

What you said is true: It's all about the muscle memory. Which is why people can type fast with QWERTY. 

And lmao, lubing your keyboard, that made me laugh pretty hard.  Same with restickering it... what stickers? You're right anyway, replacing the keys wouldn't do anything because if you have to look at the keyboard to type, you're probably not typing over 20 wpm. 

I'm sticking with QWERTY because it's familiar and universal. Already way too used to it to ever change. QWERTY FTW!


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## Zarxrax (Mar 4, 2009)

I've been thinking about changing to dvorak for years now but still never actually tried it. The thing is, these days I have more than one computer, so it becomes a bigger hassle. I don't know if the keys on my netbook will even come off or not, and I would definitely need to look at the letters (I still look on qwerty from time to time despite using it daily for 15 years.)


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## EmersonHerrmann (Mar 4, 2009)

QWERTY to typing is like Fridrich to cubing.


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## Tetris Cube (Mar 4, 2009)

What's the point of changing to Dvorak anyway? You're really not going to find it outside of your own home if you do decide to switch. Phones, PDAs, and everything in between will have QWERTY. Except those that have A-Z keyboards (*shudders*) those REALLY **** me off. (Edit: God damn it, you can't say the "pee" word)

I would think typing would click for most people after 15 years... but I don't know. Depends how much you use the computer. I'm only 16, and have known the keyboard like the back of my hand for about 4 years or so. Computer games, AIM, and the like train your typing skills pretty well.


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## Ethan Rosen (Mar 4, 2009)

Tetris Cube said:


> What's the point of changing to Dvorak anyway? You're really not going to find it outside of your own home if you do decide to switch. Phones, PDAs, and everything in between will have QWERTY. Except those that have A-Z keyboards (*shudders*) those REALLY **** me off. (God damn it, you can't say the "pee" word)
> 
> I would think typing would click for most people after 15 years... but I don't know. Depends how much you use the computer. I'm only 16, and have known the keyboard like the back of my hand for about 4 years or so. Computer games, AIM, and the like train your typing skills pretty well.



I use dvorak, and I can,t type on a qwerty keyboard on a computer. I have no problem using it on a phone/ipod though. I don't know why it works that way, probably that the mental layout is different because of the size.


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## EmersonHerrmann (Mar 4, 2009)

Tetris Cube said:


> What's the point of changing to Dvorak anyway? You're really not going to find it outside of your own home if you do decide to switch. Phones, PDAs, and everything in between will have QWERTY.



Yeah, too many things have QWERTY now. I don't think it's a very good idea to switch (especially if you work at a computer repair company since everyones computers you are fixing will probably have QWERTY )


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## Kian (Mar 4, 2009)

seems really silly to change when every computer outside of yours will have qwerty.

and there's no chance i'm planning on relearning the keys. 

and i can't see why i need to type any faster.


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## Kirjava (Mar 4, 2009)

JBCM627 said:


> Kirjava said:
> 
> 
> > fanwuq said:
> ...



*facepalm*

I'm not an idiot, I know why the layouts are so.

The pros still outweigh the cons - I don't want to have trouble typing on any keyboard that isn't my own, and changing the layout isn't always an option. Unless you're seriously into typing quickly (who is?), it really doesn't make a difference. Due to this, I'd even go so far as to say that qwerty is better than dvorak.

Simply saying 'QWERTY sucks' makes you look foolish.


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## ConnorCuber (Mar 4, 2009)

Kirjava said:


> JBCM627 said:
> 
> 
> > Kirjava said:
> ...



I have to disagree with you on this one, because I believe (I was only told this some time ago, i'm not sure if it's true) that QWERTY was created to actually SLOW people who were using typewriters down, because there were health and wrist issues with many people who were using the former default layout, which I believe was Dvorak.


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## Ethan Rosen (Mar 4, 2009)

ConnorCuber said:


> Kirjava said:
> 
> 
> > JBCM627 said:
> ...



The former layout was alphabetical and it was because the typewriters jammed up if you typed too quickly. You get the idea though.

Heres a little fun fact about QWERTY. Note that the word "typewriter" is typed only using the top row. That is not a coincidence.


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## Kirjava (Mar 4, 2009)

ConnorCuber said:


> I have to disagree with you on this one, because I believe (I was only told this some time ago, i'm not sure if it's true) that QWERTY was created to actually SLOW people who were using typewriters down, because there were health and wrist issues with many people who were using the former default layout, which I believe was Dvorak.


*̣̣*
Please read the first sentence of my post again. The QWERTY wikipedia article wouldn't hurt you, either.

In addition, I didn't say that better meant faster.


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## teller (Mar 4, 2009)

It's fascinating how this really does relate to cubing style.

Fine. Call me "vanilla" Fridrich and QWERTY. I can type faster than most of you cube, so PFFFT!!!!


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## blade740 (Mar 4, 2009)

Tetris Cube said:


> When I was reading your posts before, I assumed you were a fast typist because you switched... but 55? That really doesn't warrant a switch for me, as I already type over 100 WPM with QWERTY... I max at around 120. My cube average is 45 though, so I suck at that...
> !



I was over 100 with qwerty before I switched too. I'm now about 75-80 WPM with dvorak, but speed isn't my major concern. Dvorak is easier on the hands than qwerty. It's made so that your fingers move less and common words are typed with easy finger rolls. It's so much more comfortable that I can't stand qwerty's seemingly arbitrary layout.

Also, this isn't to say that I can't type in qwerty. I can still get about 50WPM with qwerty. The only "confusion" is the first few words after switching, where I think "oh, shoot, wrong layout" After that, it's fairly easy.


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## edwardtimliu (Mar 4, 2009)

in your opinion, will switching to dvorak or colemak lower your time on hi-games?
just out of curiousity


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## blade740 (Mar 4, 2009)

Your TYPING time on hi-games, or your cubing time?

Probably not your cubing time. Seeing as, you know, the moves are EXACTLY THE SAME. >_>


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## Dene (Mar 4, 2009)

I use dvorak. I switched before I really learned qwerty. I'm still a very slow typr but I'm working on it. 
Speed isn't really the concern anyway - dvorak is so much easier. I have seen colemak and it is wery similar to dvorak, I don't see the point in it as far as ease is concerned. At least you are likely to see a dvorak keyboard around - you will never see anyone with colemak really.


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## MichaelErskine (Mar 4, 2009)

fanwuq said:


> QWERTY sucks.



',.pyf prjto - there!


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## shelley (Mar 4, 2009)

Switching to Dvorak doesn't require relabelling/reassembling your keyboard, for those that are recommending it. Just print out a little diagram with the letter positions, keep that nearby and refer to it. It trains you to not look at the keyboard as you type.

I was at about 60-70 wpm on QWERTY when I switched, now averaging in the 90s on Dvorak (haven't tested myself in a while). Dvorak is really more ergonomic (Colemak even more so); your fingers move more naturally. The most commonly used letters are all on the home row, so you don't reach into other rows as much as you do with an arbitrary layout like QWERTY. It's a layout that works with your fingers, rather than making your fingers work for it. (Disclaimer: Dvorak was optimized for typing in English. If you regularly type in other languages it may not work as well for you) I never learned to properly touch-type in QWERTY - I knew where the letters are, but I was still more comfortable looking at the keyboard kind of as a "security blanket". With Dvorak I don't look at the keyboard at all; it would be useless anyway because all the letters are wrong (except for A and M  )

I have my home computer(s) and work computer on Dvorak, and those are really the only computers I do extensive typing in. I can't touch type in QWERTY anymore, but every keyboard is labeled in QWERTY, and it works well enough for the little bit of typing I have to do on foreign computers. In the event I do have to do a lot of typing, switching doesn't take long.

Sometimes I like to go into the Apple Store, get on as many computers as possible, and change the keyboard layout to Dvorak. Then I pull up the Wikipedia (fun fact: Wikipedia is one of the few words that are really annoying to type in Dvorak) page on the Dvorak layout on Safari, and sit back and watch people's confused reactions.


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## dChan (Mar 4, 2009)

Ha, looks like shelley beat me to it. I was going to suggest learning Dvorak by the touchtyping method plus diagram as well. This is the one I printed out: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/KB_United_States_Dvorak.svg Oh, yeah, obviously you have to print it out in landscape form otherwise it'll go off the page.


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## KubeKid73 (Mar 4, 2009)

This topic inspired me to switch. Thanks!


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## fanwuq (Mar 4, 2009)

Tetris Cube said:


> When I was reading your posts before, I assumed you were a fast typist because you switched... but 55? That really doesn't warrant a switch for me, as I already type over 100 WPM with QWERTY... I max at around 120. My cube average is 45 though, so I suck at that...



I did not type much before I found out about Colemak last year. My finger speed is decent, I just suck at recognition and I make typos a lot. That doesn't happen on the cube simulator, so as a result, my typing speed on the cube simulator is probably faster than my typing speed in WPM. I felt that I maxed out QWERTY at around 35 wpm, my hands hurted and it just felt really awkward. It was like trying to speedcube with a springless stiff cube. Colemak just feels so much better on my hands and I ended up increasing my speed gradually. Main things that I love about Colemak is that my fingers rarely leave the home row and changing the Caps lock to backspace is really great since I make mistakes all the time. One of these days, I'll practice going slow and looking ahead to decrease my rate of mistakes. (I make mistakes because my fingers just like to go crazy, it has nothing to do with any layouts.)

Changing layouts for Colemak is just the click of one button.
See http://www.ryanheise.com/colemak/
Download the .exe, it is only 200kb. That is practical everywhere. On my home computer, it is no problem, I downloaded and installed the full version on my Windows XP, and it already comes with Ubuntu.


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## Tetris Cube (Mar 4, 2009)

There is no lookahead in typing... you should already know where every key is. :x Going slow and looking ahead wouldn't do anything here, it's not a cube, lol. My F2L and PLL recognition is slow in comparison though. Recognition has to do with the eyes, not the fingers. 

I use Ubuntu as my main OS, and Virtualbox emulating XP for some programs and to use iTunes for my iPod, so I could switch if I wanted to, but I don't want to. QWERTY has grown on me and I can type fast enough with it, but typing speed's not really the point anyway. If Dvorak was the universal keyboard layout, I would use that instead, regardless of typing speed.


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## fanwuq (Mar 4, 2009)

Tetris Cube said:


> There is no lookahead in typing... you should already know where every key is.



Not true on typing tests. They require so much look ahead. You have to read the sentences and type at the same time. I never look at the keyboard, I know where everything is. I bet I can reach over 80WPM if I just type random sentences I think of (like on the forum) and not correct mistakes (not like on this forum). If I smash the keyboard like crazy, I can even go over 200WPM. 
I just think QWERTY feels awkward. Also, I love messing with my friends.


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## shelley (Mar 4, 2009)

There's lookahead in typing tests - look ahead to see what words are coming up.


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## StachuK1992 (Mar 4, 2009)

haha...11 wpm so far


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## Tetris Cube (Mar 4, 2009)

Typing tests are stupid, lol. >_> Just saying it straight out. 

It's true that reading the words slow you down, but it's not too significant. You should be able to read faster than you type, as it's a "1-look" type thing. 

On facebook's typing test app, the highest I've hit is 116 WPM. There's just random words though, sentences are easier because you can process them faster in your head. Free typing, I can hit 120, maybe up to 130-140 pretty easily. Random typing, anyone can get 200+ of course.


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## KubeKid73 (Mar 4, 2009)

I just wrote the Dvorak letters on my keyboard.  Where can I find an image of a keyboard with like each key has the finger that you should use on it? Also, I have XP and when I log in I have to type my password in QWERTY, how do I make it Dvorak?


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## StachuK1992 (Mar 4, 2009)

kubekid...make dvorak your default!


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## KubeKid73 (Mar 4, 2009)

I did. I did before, but I logged out to check, so it may just be working because I had already logged in and made it default. Maybe I'll check again.
EDIT: It didn't work.


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## d4m4s74 (Mar 4, 2009)

I can use QWERTY, AZERTY, whatever germans have in internet cafés and dvorak without looking

I like QWERTY the most because that's the first one I learned and it's everywhere anyway, dvorak is a close second (left handed dvorak is useful when using a mouse and keyboard at the same time)


btw. I only read page 1 and 2 so it might be said before, QWERTY was made to be slow, making sure keys used a lot weren't close to eachother so your typewriter wouldn't jam if you type too fast

edit, yup it was said before


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## KubeKid73 (Mar 4, 2009)

It may be Colmak. (Because that's the only other layout that I have heard of.) Is it hard to transition between them quickly?


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## Hadley4000 (Mar 5, 2009)

I would switch to Dvorak if it weren't for two reasons.
1. My Blackberry
2. School computers.


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## KubeKid73 (Mar 5, 2009)

Yeah, but I don't care. I barely ever use school computers. Is there a way to change the Voyager to Dvorak?


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## Odin (Mar 5, 2009)

Does any one know where I can get a Dvorak keyboard?

Off topic-ish: If this key bored was a cube it would be a C4Y cube: http://www.maltron.com/images/keyboards/maltron-usb-dual-l90-uk-mac-dvorak-1-large.jpg . WARNING: you might be blinded from its majesty.

*EDIT* Yay for fixing typos


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## Hadley4000 (Mar 5, 2009)

KubeKid73 said:


> Yeah, but I don't care. I barely ever use school computers. Is there a way to change the Voyager to Dvorak?



I'm in a 3D animation class, though. Use the computer lab a lot.


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## MistArts (Mar 5, 2009)

I got 5 wpm on my first try with Dvorak! I think I'll switch because I'm only at 45 with QWERTY.

EDIT: Up to 9 now!


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## shelley (Mar 5, 2009)

Odin said:


> Does any one know where I can get a Dvorak keybored?
> 
> Off topic-ish: If this key bored was a cube it would be a C4Y cube: http://www.maltron.com/images/keyboards/maltron-usb-dual-l90-uk-mac-dvorak-1-large.jpg . WARNING: you might be blinded from its majesty.



Change your keyboard settings to Dvorak. Voila, you now have a Dvorak keyBOARD.



Hadley4000 said:


> 1. My Blackberry



Unless you touch type on your Blackberry like you would on a normal keyboard (with all 10 fingers), learning Dvorak shouldn't interfere with the way you type on your phone.


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## fanwuq (Mar 5, 2009)

Odin said:


> Does any one know where I can get a Dvorak keyboard?
> 
> Off topic-ish: If this key bored was a cube it would be a C4Y cube: http://www.maltron.com/images/keyboards/maltron-usb-dual-l90-uk-mac-dvorak-1-large.jpg . WARNING: you might be blinded from its majesty.
> 
> *EDIT* Yay for fixing typos



I've seen that before. I wouldn't want that one, but I would want the left hand OH version. I want really want to learn to type OH.

http://www.ryanheise.com/colemak.exe 

Try that. It immediately turns your windows computer into Colemak with just one click. Linux already comes with Colemak. I never use Macs, so I haven't worried about it yet. This might be a reason that I hate Macs. I also hate the one button mice and the general feeling of using the applications.
Something like this should exist for Dvorak as well.


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## dChan (Mar 5, 2009)

Oh, woah, nice find fanwuq. That would be great if they had one for Dorak. I am definitely going to search for one.


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## dChan (Mar 6, 2009)

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this before but Dvorak is actually a widely available layout on most Windows computers. Just follow these steps to switch your layout to Dvorak: http://www.microsoft.com/enable/training/windowsxp/keyboardlayout.aspx


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## shelley (Mar 6, 2009)

Dvorak is available on pretty much all the modern operating systems (which is how I Dvorak computers at the Apple Store so easily). Colemak is built in on Ubuntu Linux, but Windows and Mac people have to install it separately.


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## Unknown (Mar 7, 2009)

I use QWERTZ (same as QWERTY, but Z and Y are changed) and get about 140 wpm.
And I think I will never change, if most of the operating systems or keyboards will not change to another layout.
Maybe I will get more wpm with layouts like Dvorak or Colemak, but I can only get them at home on my desired keyboard layout.
In our school or maybe in my future job there aren't keyboards in dvorak and also no option to change the layout due to restricted useraccounts.


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## dChan (Mar 11, 2009)

Ryan Heise used a program called AutoHotkey to create the Colemak.exe file he has up on his website. It is a pretty neat program so for anyone that was wondering if there was a Dvorak layout that could be as easily accessed as the one that Ryan created, you can just use this program to create a .exe file that you can carry around wherever. It is a much faster way to switch to Dvorak on other computers, in my opinion as opposed to going through your Control Panel and the like. 

Anyhow, it is super easy to create a script that remaps your QWERTY keys to the Dvorak layout. I was going to make one very quickly, but I saw that a guy over on the AutoHotkey forums named Boinst put up a script for this specific purpose already so I just copied it into Notepad++, saved it as a .ahk file then covnerted the .ahk to a .exe and voila! You now have a Dvorak.exe file that acts the same as the Colemak.exe file on Ryan Heise's site. Just type in: http://worldend.retroemu.com/dvorak.exe to get the file. I'll keep it hosted on my site forever seeing as it is such a small file but I recommend downloading it as well. 

Just note, though, that I did not test every single key but rather did a general test to see if certain things were in place. Other than that I do not know for sure that every key has been remapped properly. If there is a problem feel free to tell me and I'll see what I can do. 

For the most part, though, this is unnecessary if you are on your home computer and rarely use outside computers.

EDIT: Ah, this is good if you have family members who use your computer. All you have to do is right-click and and click "Suspend Hotkeys" to temporarily switch back to QWERTY for the times when your brother, sister, father, mother, or whoever needs to use your computer. It is also good for when you are just starting out and choose to use an easier transitional method(e.g. QWERTY by day and weird layout by night or something of the sort).

EDIT 2: Easier to remember URL: http://bit.ly/dvorak I'm also putting up a Colemak script with Capslock mapped to Backspace for anyone who misses their Capslock key, if anyone is interested: http://bit.ly/Colemak


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## *LukeMayn* (Mar 12, 2009)

argh, I'm at like 2wpm with dvorak...


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## Dene (Mar 12, 2009)

We got Lucas!


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## blade740 (Mar 12, 2009)

dChan said:


> It is also good for when you are just starting out and choose to use an easier transitional method(e.g. QWERTY by day and weird layout by night or something of the sort).



I would just like to point out that this is going to make it much harder to learn Dvorak. I didn't get any sort of speed with Dvorak until I tossed qwerty completely. I think knowing that I could still type quickly with qwerty kept me from getting faster. After you get decent with Dvorak (meaning you can type without looking all the time, with a reasonable speed) you can practice qwerty again. It came back pretty easily for me.


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## dChan (Mar 12, 2009)

blade740 said:


> dChan said:
> 
> 
> > It is also good for when you are just starting out and choose to use an easier transitional method(e.g. QWERTY by day and weird layout by night or something of the sort).
> ...



I definitely agree that by completely switching over and leaving QWERTY behind during your learning period will get you to be much faster at a new keyboard layout in a lower amount of time, though. However, if you do things like typing up essays for school on your computer on a regular basis, it's not very ideal to just throw out QWERTY. The way you chose to learn is probably just dependent on what your 'virtual lifestyle' is like, I would say. For those who don't really do anything important on their computer I would say a cold turkey approach would work whereas for anyone who uses their computer a lot for important things(or maybe they just type a lot of stuff on their computer), it might not be so ideal.

Oh! I suggest everyone use TypeFaster. It's a really great program (for Windows) for learning to type. I'm currently learning Colemak through TypeFaster and it's been very easy [to learn] so far.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, Spring Break is coming up so that's when I will completely throw out QWERTY seeing as I will not have much to do in terms of school during that time. That might be a good idea for anyone who suffers from work or whatever forcing you to type a lot on your computer.


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## Lofty (Mar 19, 2009)

ok im teaching myself touch typing and switched to a southpaw dvorak. should i just do colmak?
im getting like 5wpm on this and got about 55wpm on qwerty.


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## joey (Mar 19, 2009)

I'm trying out Colemak, it's not too much of a change from Qwerty, and I think it's a lil' bit better for programming than dvorak.


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## fanwuq (Mar 19, 2009)

I like colemak.
Me:
http://forum.colemak.com/viewtopic.php?id=303
Leyan Lo:
http://forum.colemak.com/viewtopic.php?id=286

I think I got to around 20wpm the 2nd day and I was only at 35 on qwerty anyway. It was pretty easy for me to learn. I never looked back at qwerty.


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## reptar (Mar 19, 2009)

Ethan Rosen said:


> I use Dvorak. Remove all the tiles from your keyboard, put them back on in dvorak, change your default input to dvorak, and never turn back.



USE DVORAK
*courage wolf*
NEVER LOOK BACK


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## Poke (Mar 19, 2009)

I can only type like 25 WPM on qwerty anyway.

The only problem is my school's keyboards would remain qwerty.


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## Lofty (Mar 19, 2009)

I think ill stick to dvorak i really like having all my constanants in my main hand and my vowels in the other. I'm still pushing like 5wpm but its getting easier...


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## cubekid (Mar 19, 2009)

Has anyone here switched from dvorak to colemak? And if so, why did they?

I type around 85-95wpm in dvorak, just curious if there's any real reason to switch over :/


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## fanwuq (Mar 19, 2009)

cubekid said:


> Has anyone here switched from dvorak to colemak? And if so, why did they?
> 
> I type around 85-95wpm in dvorak, just curious if there's any real reason to switch over :/



Leyan Lo:
http://forum.colemak.com/viewtopic.php?id=286


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## shelley (Mar 19, 2009)

Colemak supposedly involves even less finger movement than Dvorak. It also uses capslock as backspace. Nobody really uses capslock anymore anyway, and it's a lot closer than the backspace key, which is handy if you make a lot of mistakes (which you probably will when you're learning a new layout). It also fixes a few little annoying things about Dvorak (e.g. the placement of the L key). It is more similar to QWERTY so QWERTY users may have an easier time switching over; also keys for the major shortcuts (Z, X, C, V) are the same so you don't have to relearn new positions for often used copy/paste shortcuts.


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## cubekid (Mar 19, 2009)

Crap, I should have actually read Leyan's post (I just assumed it was Qwerty -> Colemak). Oh well.

I like the fact that Colemak fixes the placement of the L key (I ALWAYS mistype L as /, and vice versa). Also, the fact that the major shortcuts are changed is nice.

However, changing the Caps Lock to Backspace is troublesome, since I use Caps Lock constantly. In case this is confusing, the reason I use it constantly is because I use vim, and in vim you use the Escape key a lot. I have remapped the Caps Lock key to be the Escape key.

Hmm... I guess that's the question I should be asking. Is there anyone who uses vim constantly AND has switched from Dvorak to Colemak...

Oh well, I suppose for the time being I'm content with Dvorak. The small quirks don't bother me too much, and I don't really see myself switching anytime soon.


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## Dene (Mar 19, 2009)

Lofty said:


> I think ill stick to dvorak i really like having all my constanants in my main hand and my vowels in the other. I'm still pushing like 5wpm but its getting easier...



YAY! After a couple of weeks with a fair amount of practise, I have learnt to touch type and am getting speeds of 40-44 WPM. This is steadily increasing although not as fast as I would like.
Also about Shelley's post, cool people use dvorak, and switch caps lock and backspace as well


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## Lofty (Mar 19, 2009)

What does Ryan Hiese's program actually do? I applied it after already having my computer in a dvorak type layout and i ended up with a layout that was neither qwerty colemak or dvorak. Thankfully a quick reset of the computer put my computer back to dvorak.


----------



## KubeKid73 (Mar 20, 2009)

Is there anything that I can put on a flash drive that auto-runs and it temporarily makes the layout Dvorak and when I unplug it, it automatically goes back to QWERTY? I don't want to do anything more than plug it in.


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## not_kevin (Mar 20, 2009)

Is there a way to get a Dvorak keyboard for a Windows computer when the Control Panel has been disabled? I'd like to switch, but I use computers relatively often at school, and therefore have to keep using QWERTY, which doesn't help.


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## KubeKid73 (Mar 20, 2009)

Oh yeah. Control Panel is disabled. And I wouldn't want to install Dvorak anyway, so it can't be that file that installs Dvorak because I couldn't enable it after its installed.


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## Lofty (Mar 20, 2009)

Dene said:


> Lofty said:
> 
> 
> > I think ill stick to dvorak i really like having all my constanants in my main hand and my vowels in the other. I'm still pushing like 5wpm but its getting easier...
> ...



Sorry to disappoint Dene but I just took all the keys off my keyboard and set them back on in Colemak.
Edit: 11wpm after using it for 5 minute and on my first test!!


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## fanwuq (Mar 20, 2009)

KubeKid73 said:


> Is there anything that I can put on a flash drive that auto-runs and it temporarily makes the layout Dvorak and when I unplug it, it automatically goes back to QWERTY? I don't want to do anything more than plug it in.



Yes. Go back a few pages. to find mine and DChan's posts.
Dvorak should already be on your computer anyway without any installation. You can then go to control panel to select both qwerty and dvorak keyboards. So you can just switch between them with one click from your toolbar.
For Colemak, you do have to download it unless you are using Ubuntu.

Lofty: You could have just exit out of the little "H" next to your computer's Time.

Dene: Shelley uses Dvorak.


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## KubeKid73 (Mar 20, 2009)

I mean for at school. I want to plug my flash drive in and it changes it automatically and when I unplug it, it changes back.


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## blade740 (Mar 20, 2009)

Dene said:


> Also about Shelley's post, cool people use dvorak, and switch caps lock and backspace as well



Agreed.


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## fanwuq (Mar 20, 2009)

KubeKid73 said:


> I mean for at school. I want to plug my flash drive in and it changes it automatically and when I unplug it, it changes back.



For colemak:
http://www.ryanheise.com/colemak.exe 

For dvorak:
http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showpost.php?p=147579&postcount=56

A little H pops up in your toolbar next to the time. Exit it or suspend hot keys.

I do this for colemak everyday at school. You did not look back 2 pages like I told you.


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## Dene (Mar 20, 2009)

fanwuq said:


> Dene: Shelley uses Dvorak.



I am very much aware of this.

Lofty: Greatly disappointed, but still better than qwerty.


----------



## Lofty (Mar 20, 2009)

Question: I just went to open a new tab in ff and so hit what is now ctrl+T however I got the search optoin instead of my new tab. What do I do? I'll look around ff I guess.


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## Chuberchuckee (Mar 20, 2009)

Argh, I want to switch to either Dvorak or Colemak.

I can't choose. :/


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## cubekid (Mar 20, 2009)

Dvorak. It's what all the cool kids are using these days.


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## Chuberchuckee (Mar 20, 2009)

In that case I'll use colemak to be unique and a nonconformist. It helps to not follow the crowd at times.

I want to learn the Roux method now because no one* uses it.

*hyperbole


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## cubekid (Mar 20, 2009)

Crap. no, COLEMAK is what all the cool kids use. COLEMAK!! and QWERTY!!

Actually, Roux method is da bomb. The most fun method I have ever learned.


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## shelley (Mar 20, 2009)

Lofty said:


> Question: I just went to open a new tab in ff and so hit what is now ctrl+T however I got the search optoin instead of my new tab. What do I do? I'll look around ff I guess.



Do you use a Mac? There's a "Dvorak-Qwerty" layout in OSX that switches back to Qwerty when you press Ctrl (or the Mac equivalent of Ctrl), to keep all the familiar keyboard shortcuts in the same place.

On Windows, unless you have Dvorak as default it will switch back to Qwerty every time you open a new window. So that could be what's happening.


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## Lofty (Mar 20, 2009)

shelley said:


> Lofty said:
> 
> 
> > Question: I just went to open a new tab in ff and so hit what is now ctrl+T however I got the search optoin instead of my new tab. What do I do? I'll look around ff I guess.
> ...



I am on Windows Vista. And sorry Shelley but I switched to Colemak. I have it set as my default too. The shortcuts still dont work... 
I made a custom layout on vista and set it as my default and then switched caps to backspace. 
Current pb at 14 wpm lol.
Edit: 17wpm!


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## Dene (Mar 20, 2009)

You still won't regret the change to dvorak, honestly! Dene has never lead you astray!


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## Lofty (Mar 20, 2009)

When I started dvorak i had 5wpm, when i started Colemak I had 10. THis is also without ever touchtyping before... I'm pretty happy on Colemak. 
Still got ctrl+G for new tab tho lol.
Edit: 20wpm on my second day!


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## fanwuq (Mar 20, 2009)

Lofty said:


> When I started dvorak i had 5wpm, when i started Colemak I had 10. THis is also without ever touchtyping before... I'm pretty happy on Colemak.
> Still got ctrl+G for new tab tho lol.



That's strange. My ctrl+T for new tab is the Colemak ctrl+T, or the old qwerty ctrl F.


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## dChan (Mar 20, 2009)

Lofty said:


> What does Ryan Hiese's program actually do? I applied it after already having my computer in a dvorak type layout and i ended up with a layout that was neither qwerty colemak or dvorak. Thankfully a quick reset of the computer put my computer back to dvorak.



Just saw this post a moment ago, so anyhow: The program is actually a script for AutoHotkey which translates QWERTY to Colemak so if your base keyboard is Dvorak it will not work properly. Now that you mentioned it, though, I am thinking about making a Dvorak to Colemak and Colemak to Dvorak script. Hmm... another project to waste my time on.


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## d4m4s74 (Mar 20, 2009)

I'm thinking of switching to dvorak (or programmer dvorak, kinda like normal dvorak but with easier access to the symbol keys) and I wonder if I can get replacement keys for my keyboard (if I switch to programmer dvorak instead of the normal)


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## joey (Mar 20, 2009)

There is no point switching the keys.


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## cubekid (Mar 20, 2009)

Not only is there no point in switching the keys, it probably is worse. I haven't done or seen any scientific tests or anything, but the reason that I believe that it is worse is that if you switch all they keys, you have the crutch of looking at the keys. When you just use whatever you have, you're actually forced to learn to touch-type.

Just my 2 cents.


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## d4m4s74 (Mar 20, 2009)

I'm not the only person using this computer and I don't want to change the keyboard format every time I start/stop


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## KubeKid73 (Mar 20, 2009)

fanwuq said:


> KubeKid73 said:
> 
> 
> > I mean for at school. I want to plug my flash drive in and it changes it automatically and when I unplug it, it changes back.
> ...



I saw that. I misunderstood what it does. I thought it was an install thing for it. Thanks.


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## dChan (Mar 20, 2009)

d4m4s74 said:


> I'm not the only person using this keyboard and I don't want to change the keyboard format every time I start/stop



Hrm? Do you mean that someone else also wants to learn programmer Dvorak? What exactly is preventing you from learning Dvorak by touch-typing? You can have Dvorak set as your layout permanently or temporarily, not just temporarily.


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## d4m4s74 (Mar 20, 2009)

I mean my parents often use my laptop, they don't touch-type so they don't care where the keys are, as long as they do what they should do on the puter

but I read a bit back (well, it was quoted few messages ago) and saw that flash drive thing

that will work too


btw, the keyboard in my prevous message should have been computer


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## Lofty (Mar 24, 2009)

wow i just downloaded TypeFaster, its a huge help. Even tho I get sub-30wpm and sub-95 accuracy on lesson 1...


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## StachuK1992 (Mar 24, 2009)

News: Switching to Colemak


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## dChan (Mar 24, 2009)

Lofty said:


> wow i just downloaded TypeFaster, its a huge help. Even tho I get sub-30wpm and sub-95 accuracy on lesson 1...



Yeah, Typefaster is awesome. It truly helps out with learning where all the keys are. After the first few lessons it was fairly easy for me to type anything(albeit slow) in Colemak without having to refer to a diagram. 

@Stachuk1992: Yay, more people making the switch from QWERTY to a new and better layout. 

I have yet to fully switch to Colemak as school forces me to type quite a lot of essays and the like. During Spring Break I'll make the complete switch, though. I am getting jealous of everyone switching over.


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## shelley (Mar 24, 2009)

d4m4s74 said:


> I mean my parents often use my laptop, they don't touch-type so they don't care where the keys are, as long as they do what they should do on the puter
> 
> but I read a bit back (well, it was quoted few messages ago) and saw that flash drive thing
> 
> ...



Do you and your parents have separate user accounts on the computer? If so, you can switch your own user account to Dvorak or Colemak or whatever, and leave your parents' accounts alone.


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## StachuK1992 (Mar 24, 2009)

Hey guys!
I think you (dChan) may REALLY be interested in portable Colemak:
http://colemak.com/Windows
It's really small (<1MB uncompressed), and displays a diagram of the layout if you want.
If you are on the same PC as your parents, you should just make it so it autoruns when you log on.
If you, also, want to quickly switch back-and-forth, then pressing both alt keys at the same time will do the trick 

Good Luck!


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## soccerking813 (Mar 24, 2009)

I'm sticking with QWERTY, because I can almost touch type on it, and I see no reason to switch. Unless you are a professional speed typer or something that is...


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## dChan (Mar 24, 2009)

soccerking813 said:


> I'm sticking with QWERTY, because I can almost touch type on it, and I see no reason to switch. Unless you are a professional speed typer or something that is...



If you see no reason to switch or believe switching layouts is only for people who are professional speed typists I suggest you research Dvorak and Colemak a bit.

http://colemak.com/FAQ
http://infohost.nmt.edu/~shipman/ergo/parkinson.html
http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/carpalx/?qwerty > Then click on the Dvorak and Colemak case studies.

If you use a keyboard or a typewriter (I'm sure someone uses a typewriter still!) frequently then there is quite a lot of reason to make the switch from QWERTY. The biggest reason, for me, is that QWERTY was never designed to be easy to type with (despite the rearrangement of a select few keys) nor was it designed using any real "method." Just reading through a few of the links you can find about Dvorak and Colemak you can see that.

@Stachuk1992: Big win! I had seen the file before but was did not ever bother with it because I have been using AutoHotkey and figured I did not need another program. One thing the program doesn't have though is the addition of CapsLock in the Backspace position. Otherwise, the addition of the layout image and everything is great. Good suggestion.


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## Daniel Wu (Mar 25, 2009)

i just switched to dvorak. i'm at 20 wpm. nowhere near my 50 wpm with qwerty but that's slow anyway.


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## Lofty (Mar 25, 2009)

Alright I decided to set a keyboard to OH dvorak. I just like everything OH lol. 
10 wpm on my third try at higames. im staring at the keyboard tho... Its kinda fun 
Its kinda funny cause I only get 14 touchtyping with Colemak.


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## Dene (Mar 25, 2009)

YEA! Do it! Yay we got Lofty back


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## Lofty (Mar 25, 2009)

Lol you don't have me back... I'm not going to make my main layout an OH one. 
I'm sticking with Colemak for 2H and lefty Dvorak for OH.
12wpm tho lol.


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## d4m4s74 (Mar 25, 2009)

I just switched to colemak colmak cold turkey
It's difficult but its possible
also difficult: I remember my passwords by muscle memory so now I have to think which slows me down a lot


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## dChan (Mar 25, 2009)

Oooh, cold turkey is tough. I am technically going to go cold turkey on Spring Break to Colemak but I'll have had training in TypeFaster and the like so it won't be as hard as it would be if I went cold turkey right now where I can type only around 10 WPM(haven't tested lately but that's probably what it is).


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## fanwuq (Mar 25, 2009)

Lofty said:


> Lol you don't have me back... I'm not going to make my main layout an OH one.
> I'm sticking with Colemak for 2H and lefty Dvorak for OH.
> 12wpm tho lol.



I was also thinking about learning OH typing! What is OH Dvorak? Is it different from pure Dvorak? Left or right hand?

DChan: I switched cold turkey as soon as I learned about Dvorak and Colemak and decided which one to use. It's not that bad, after a week, I was back to 30 wpm and I was at 20wpm the 3rd day.

Edit: This?
http://www.dvorak-keyboards.com/right_and_left_hand_dvorak_keyboard_layouts.htm

DChan, could you make a program that switches qwerty to LH Dvoraks? Thanks! (I don't feel like messing with that program and I'd probably fail if I tried.) 
Edit2: Nevermind, it's already in the computer. (But it would still be convenient to have it.)


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## Lofty (Mar 25, 2009)

I set up left hand dvorak. 
I tried switching cold turkey but use qwerty sometimes for the sake of my friends on aim. 
I don't really know why I want to learn OH typing... its not practical or useful in anything I do...


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## fanwuq (Mar 25, 2009)

Lofty said:


> I set up left hand dvorak.
> I tried switching cold turkey but use qwerty sometimes for the sake of my friends on aim.
> I don't really know why I want to learn OH typing... its not practical or useful in anything I do...



I thought OH typing would be really cool and sometimes I'm too lazy to move my RH from the mouse, but it's really difficult on a regular keyboard, especially when the shift key is needed. 
I just tried it and got 16 wpm with qwerty and 2 with dvorak-LH. I think I'll stick with qwerty. Unlike Colemak, D-LH is just weird. The numbers are scrambled everywhere and I can't deal with that without restickering my keyboard.


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## Lofty (Mar 25, 2009)

yea I have a keyboard with keys that pop off very easily so it wasn't too big a deal for me to move them. It is still annoying to shift tho because shift doesn't move... 
I don't really think it's worth learning a whole new layout just for when you get lazy... 
I think I'll just stick to Colemak.


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## Dene (Apr 9, 2009)

Ok to give you guys an update: Yesterday I got a PB of 60WPM on dvorak. My current aim is 100WPM by the end of April. I doubt this will happen but I'm working hard on it!


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## dChan (Apr 9, 2009)

@Dene: Wow that's pretty good! I want to be that fast (Thoudh with Colemak)! 

@Fanwuq: Oops, I didn't see your post before. Did you still want that program? I could easily wip it up if you do.

As for my own progress, I am currently at 14 WPM in Colemak. I will take the test again soon, though and hopefully I can get a much better score.


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## Dene (Apr 28, 2009)

I'm just gonna go ahead and bump this again. As I suspected 100 is not going to happen. Just earlier I got 73 PB, and I seem to be averaging in the high 60s and low 70s. We will see what my PB is by the end of April in a few days.


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## Lofty (Apr 28, 2009)

I'll update as well. I tried cold turkey switch to colemak but it was hard since I use aim and facebook a lot to communicate with my friends back home while I'm at university. Just this week tho I started using nothing but colemak and I get around 30-35 wpm. This isn't too bad since I only had 50-55 on qwerty.


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## Dene (Apr 28, 2009)

Keep working at it! You should improve quickly at first if you just go for it.


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## Lofty (Apr 28, 2009)

Yea, I'm almost on break. I think I need to pass my qwerty with my colemak and get the pyraminx nar. 8 seconds? Come on.. haha. 
I havnt done typing tests in awhile just everyday typing so I just got a 38 on Hi-Games.


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## dChan (Apr 29, 2009)

Haha, yay! This bumped thread gave me motivation to do a typing test on Hi-Games today and I got 51 WPM! I made tons of mistakes too and it was still 51. I actually need to go back and learn how to touchtype in QWERTY, soon. I never learned to use all 10 fingers in QWERTY so when I switch someone's computer I find it very hard to type. But I'll do that once I get to Dene's level I think. Colemak rocks!


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## Dene (May 15, 2009)

I finally got over 80... In fact I got 81  . I haven't been practising nearly as much. I'm just letting it improve slowly with the typing that I normally do at the moment.


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## mazei (May 15, 2009)

Hey guys, I'm trying to decide on either dvorak or colemak. Any suggestions??


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## dChan (May 15, 2009)

@Dene: Wow, geez, you are getting pretty fast. I too have not really been focusing on practicing, just letting normal everyday typing help me to improve.

@mazei: Err, I think you should probably do some research on your own. Lots of people will give you all kinds of reasons why one is better than the other so I would really suggest you look up the pros and cons of each layout yourself. I listed some links a few pages back I think, but here are a few I remember were good:

Colemak: http://colemak.com/FAQ
Dvorak: http://colemak.com/Advocate (It's on the Colemak site but there are a bunch of links there to Dvorak stuff)
Info on both from Carpalx: http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/carpalx/

EDIT: Oh, yeah, I'm at 62 WPM for Colemak now. Weeha. Need to beat my miserable QWERTY best of 67 WPM.

EDIT: I just found this, haha. This is a great webcomic for anyone that wants to know why QWERTY is pretty silly (oh, and also why you may want to use Dvorak): http://dvzine.org/zine/01-toc.html


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## Dene (Jun 7, 2009)

Three weeks later, and I finally hit the next milestone - 91 WPM  . Dene is a happy chappy   . Now the stretch to 100!


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## Rozir (Jun 7, 2009)

well most 150wpm people type in qwerty 

not saying i type that fast though

i never tryed dvorak


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## Dene (Jun 7, 2009)

That's because most people type in qwerty. What would be more interesting to know is what ratio of dvorakers to qwertyers are typing faster on average. I'm willing to bet that qwerty would lose. I mean, imagine how many people out there that just use the usual qwerty are typing at less than 20 WPM. I think you will find that most people that go to the effort of changing keyboard would also go to the effort of typing fast.


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## joey (Jun 7, 2009)

Dene said:


> What would be more interesting to know is what ratio of dvorakers to qwertyers are typing faster on average. I'm willing to bet that qwerty would lose. [..snip..] I think you will find that most people that go to the effort of changing keyboard would also go to the effort of typing fast.


But if you did a ratio of "people who try to type fast with qwerty" to "people who try to type fast with dvorak", dvorak might lose.


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## Dene (Jun 7, 2009)

Yea but can't you see that is going to be worthless because _everyone_ uses qwerty?


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## panyan (Jun 7, 2009)

CoolCuber said:


> I think QWERTY is slow, but since its the default one, alot of people use it, making it popular



just like MS windows...


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## deco122392 (Jun 7, 2009)

ok just switched and this is... new... for some reason mozilla still types in qwerty tho.


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## shelley (Jun 7, 2009)

deco122392 said:


> ok just switched and this is... new... for some reason mozilla still types in qwerty tho.



Unless you've changed the systems default keyboard layout, every time you open a new window or application it will go back to QWERTY.


----------



## deco122392 (Jun 7, 2009)

shelley said:


> deco122392 said:
> 
> 
> > ok just switched and this is... new... for some reason mozilla still types in qwerty tho.
> ...



I did, when I type in word and notepad and it works in both, it also works in my cmd. however when I type online in mozilla , like here for example, I have to type in qwerty :confused:


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## StachuK1992 (Jun 7, 2009)

try pressing Ctrl+ shift while typing...?


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## deco122392 (Jun 7, 2009)

Stachuk1992 said:


> try pressing Ctrl+ shift while typing...?



Nevermind I got it working. now to get used to it.

thank you all 

well as it turns out my mom doesn't like me changing the keyboard settings.... so i have to stick with qwerty until i have my own computer. =(


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## dChan (Jun 8, 2009)

Can't you just change it back when she gets on? Or use something like an AutoHotKey program(e.g. http://bit.ly/dvorak or bit.ly/Colemak)? The AutoHotKey .exe's are very easily turned off, as well.

Darn, everyone is getting fast. I just reached 69 WPM yesterday. I'm still way far from all you fast alternative keyboard typists.


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## Daniel Wu (Jun 8, 2009)

I stink. One week in Dvorak and I'm hardly 30 WPM.


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## KubeKid73 (Jun 8, 2009)

I've probably stayed at like 30-35 wpm since like a week or two after I switched to Dvorak. Any tips on getting faster?


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## StachuK1992 (Jun 8, 2009)

Practice. Like do 100 typing tests in one day, but take breaks between every five or so, to reduce carpal tunnel.


EDIT:

I have a confession to make.
About a week into the switch, I found it hard to switch constantly from Colemak to QWERTY because of school, and I thus quit it for the time being.

However, now that school is out, I decided today to give Colemak another chance!
I used to get like 20WPM Colemak, so we'll see how I do from here. :/


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## dChan (Jun 8, 2009)

Hmm, well I don't know about 100 typing tests a day. After a month of just doing a few typing tests a day (maybe 5 or 6 at the most) and just letting my skills increase through normal everyday typing, I was in the 50-55 range. I suppose doing tons of typing tests every day would work if you are in a rush to get faster.

Oh, a good tip is to type your IMs out in Colemak/Dvorak (whichever you use). I think that helped me out a lot to get faster more quickly.


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## StachuK1992 (Jun 8, 2009)

dChan said:


> Oh, a good tip is to type your IMs out in Colemak/Dvorak (whichever you use). I think that helped me out a lot to get faster more quickly.



Ah; since I'm constantly on facebook, it looks as though I'll type Colemak there. That's like at least 3hrs a day of typing.


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## dChan (Jun 8, 2009)

Heh, yeah. The people I was IM'ing were getting annoyed at the fact that I was typing super slow but it didn't take very long(maybe a couple of weeks) to get to a decent typing pace where it was slow but not so slow that people would notice.


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## StachuK1992 (Jun 8, 2009)

yeah. I'm actually quite surprised that I still remember the jist of the layout.


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## Dene (Jun 8, 2009)

Cold turkey ftw. Just dive straight into it. Be a real man about it. To be honest I'm not sure how many typing tests I do a day. I wish there was a history of it.


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## StachuK1992 (Jun 8, 2009)

Dene said:


> Cold turkey ftw. Just dive straight into it. Be a real man about it. To be honest I'm not sure how many typing tests I do a day. I wish there was a history of it.


you're one to talk...


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## KubeKid73 (Jun 8, 2009)

I ditched Qwerty completely right as I started Dvorak, so all my everyday typing is in Dvorak, but I still don't get faster. Too bad I can't change my cell phone's layout to Dvorak.


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## V-te (Jul 18, 2009)

I have succesfully switched from both.. When my cousins come over, they no longer wish to use my comp because they can't type in it.

',.pyfgcrl/=aoeuidhtns-;qjkxbmwvz!!!! wohoo!!!!

It's weird tough. I was gonna post something like this, then I found yours. I guess cubers think alike.


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## Lofty (Jul 18, 2009)

Wow, I've been using Colemak for awhile now and I am at 60wpm pb on hi-games.


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## mazei (Jul 18, 2009)

I love using colemak. But I can't type with just one hand.


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## ChrisBird (Jul 18, 2009)

I love Dvorak for many reasons, but mainly these two.

1) Switching the keys from qwerty to dvorak is perfect for perfecting speed and accuracy on qwerty. I gained 28 WPM on qwerty just by doing it blind (80-108)
2) Dvorak is just so much better, and made for speed. I think it's 70-75% of all words can be done on the home row alone. Sweet. Im still pretty slow on dvorak, but I'm getting better.

I also set the german keyboard up on ctrl-shift-3 so I can do umlauts. =D


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## Dene (Jul 19, 2009)

Did you guys also notice the nice new tests on hi-games? Unfortunately my laptop is not co-operating so I can't keep it on the net, but I quickly did a test on my desktop keyboard in the 30 seconds test, and got a reasonable amount. I have a feeling 100 WPM is very close, if only I got the time to try it out on my laptop again.


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## V-te (Aug 13, 2009)

I can type Dvorák with no qwerty keyboard, no qwerty keyboard, no qwerty keyboard....


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## KubeKid73 (Aug 13, 2009)

V-te said:


> I have succesfully switched from both.. When my cousins come over, they no longer wish to use my comp because they can't type in it.
> 
> ',.pyfgcrl/=aoeuidhtns-;qjkxbmwvz!!!! wohoo!!!!
> 
> It's weird tough. I was gonna post something like this, then I found yours. I guess cubers think alike.



Lol. Now my sister doesn't use my computer.  I think that's the best part of it.


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## nitrocan (Aug 13, 2009)

V-te said:


> I can type Dvorák with no qwerty keyboard, no qwerty keyboard, no qwerty keyboard....



Apparently you have other outstanding abilities such as bumping a thread to write this, too...


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## V-te (Aug 18, 2009)

KubeKid73 said:


> V-te said:
> 
> 
> > I have succesfully switched from both.. When my cousins come over, they no longer wish to use my comp because they can't type in it.
> ...



*high fives* 
lol. Dvorak should take over the world!


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## fundash (Aug 18, 2009)

I use qwerty! QWERTY FTW!! dvorakz is ok.......


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## krazedkat (Aug 18, 2009)

Lies... I type 80-90 WPM with QWERTY...


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## Am1n- (Aug 18, 2009)

anyone azerty? I might switch dough

mvg


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## V-te (Aug 18, 2009)

krazedkat said:


> Lies... I type 80-90 WPM with QWERTY...



you would type 120 With Dvorak.


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## Kirjava (Aug 18, 2009)

I type 300wpm with qwerty.


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## krazedkat (Aug 18, 2009)

Kirjava said:


> I type 300wpm with qwerty.



Impossible.... Why even say that?:fp


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## Kirjava (Aug 18, 2009)

It's not impossible.


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## V-te (Aug 18, 2009)

Yes it is


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## Kirjava (Aug 18, 2009)

No it's not.


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## Daniel Wu (Aug 18, 2009)

:fp


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## Pancake's girl (Aug 18, 2009)

rickcube said:


> :fp



+1 :fp


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## qqwref (Aug 18, 2009)

I can do around 120wpm with qwerty when warmed up. To be honest this is more than enough for my personal needs (i.e. I usually don't even think that fast) and I don't really see any reason to bother relearning a typing layout just to possibly end up a bit faster. But for all of you who are slower, good luck with Dvorak/Colemak/whatever. (I personally think Colemak is a better layout than Dvorak, but hey, it's not my time you might be wasting )


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## Kirjava (Aug 18, 2009)

I dunno what you guys are facepalming for, 300wpm is easy. I'm sure I could do 400 if I really practised.


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## Daniel Wu (Aug 18, 2009)

400 wpm=6 2/3 words PER SECOND.


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## Kirjava (Aug 18, 2009)

No problem, learning how to think that fast is actually the hard part.


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## shelley (Aug 18, 2009)

"a" is a word.


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## Swordsman Kirby (Aug 18, 2009)

V-te said:


> krazedkat said:
> 
> 
> > Lies... I type 80-90 WPM with QWERTY...
> ...



lol


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## xXdaveXsuperstarXx (Aug 19, 2009)

I can type 70 with QWERTY. I don't know why But I have extreme back space abilities. I could delete an entire cyber book in a few minutes if I wanted too. Hence I have a perfect accuracy ability. But I wouldn't like switching keyboards. Because it would be a hassle. It seems though that I have come to a stop at where I can speed type. 90 WPM seems to be a barrier for me. I don't know why.


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## royzabeast (Aug 19, 2009)

I found a video with 280 WPM:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOBs25_g23s


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## Kirjava (Aug 19, 2009)

I just tried a test and got 327wpm.


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## fanwuq (Aug 19, 2009)

Kirjava said:


> I just tried a test and got 327wpm.



It's true. He really is that fast.


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## Carson (Aug 19, 2009)

Question for those of you that have made the switch:

Do you have any trouble if you have to use a qwerty pc? I frequently have to jump around on multiple pc's at work, so really switching to a new layout would not make sense. However, if it is fairly easy to handle being familiar with both layouts at once, I would consider giving it a try.


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## Ethan Rosen (Aug 19, 2009)

Carson said:


> Question for those of you that have made the switch:
> 
> Do you have any trouble if you have to use a qwerty pc? I frequently have to jump around on multiple pc's at work, so really switching to a new layout would not make sense. However, if it is fairly easy to handle being familiar with both layouts at once, I would consider giving it a try.



When I first made the switch it was hard, but I've now found that just being on a qwerty keyboard every once in a while is enough to stay decent at it. Once you can touch type with dvorak it doesn't really matter though.


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## krazedkat (Aug 19, 2009)

xXdaveXsuperstarXx said:


> I can type 70 with QWERTY. I don't know why But I have extreme back space abilities. I could delete an entire cyber book in a few minutes if I wanted too. Hence I have a perfect accuracy ability. But I wouldn't like switching keyboards. Because it would be a hassle. It seems though that I have come to a stop at where I can speed type. 90 WPM seems to be a barrier for me. I don't know why.



So do you make errors when typing but quickly correct them? Same...


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## V-te (Aug 19, 2009)

Carson said:


> Question for those of you that have made the switch:
> 
> Do you have any trouble if you have to use a qwerty pc? I frequently have to jump around on multiple pc's at work, so really switching to a new layout would not make sense. However, if it is fairly easy to handle being familiar with both layouts at once, I would consider giving it a try.



The weird thing is, When I try a Qwerty keyboard, it takes me a while to get it, but when it's a keyboard that you use on the screen, you can type like nothing.


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## KubeKid73 (Aug 20, 2009)

It's weird that I don't mix up Qwerty and Dvorak. When I'm at my computer, I automatically type with Dvorak, but when I'm at another computer, I type with Qwerty and I don't mess up at all.


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## mazei (Aug 20, 2009)

I get the same speed on qwerty and colemak but I don't touch type on qwerty though. Still averaging the same speed on qwerty despite changing to colemak.


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## Lofty (Aug 20, 2009)

I'm typing about 60 wpm now on colemak and I have a really hard time on qwerty whenever I have to type on it. Thats probably because I never learned to touchtype on qwerty but now i touchtype on colemak.


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## mazei (Aug 20, 2009)

Kind of the same but I have no problem using qwerty. I guess its just my slow wpm of 40-60.


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## Cool Frog (Nov 25, 2009)

Ethan Rosen said:


> I use Dvorak. Remove all the tiles from your keyboard, put them back on in dvorak, change your default input to dvorak, and never turn back.



that in what i did and the finger movements are so little it is interenting.started today.. rather fun.want to keep it thin way.


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## Ethan (Nov 25, 2009)

I have never tried anything other than qwerty, and I go from an average of like 90-110 WPM. 

edit: I also typed the alphabet in 0.94 seconds with qwerty.


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## Cyrus C. (Nov 25, 2009)

Anyone here type OH?


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## Ranzha (Nov 25, 2009)

Cyrus C. said:


> Anyone here type OH?



OH typing ftw!
2H: average 86, PB of 124.
OH: average 56, PB of 72.


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## hawkmp4 (Nov 25, 2009)

I actually do type one handed a lot. I'm typing this one handed actually. (Left)
I find it keeps my wrists and arms from getting sore.


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## mazei (Nov 25, 2009)

I finally surpassed my qwerty speed with colemak. Now, onto higher speeds.


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## hawkmp4 (Nov 25, 2009)

Now I'm typing with Dvorak. I'm actually picking this up faster than I thought i would.


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## Dene (Nov 25, 2009)

I haven't done any speed typing in a while, but my best 2min test is 96 at the moment I think, best 30s 119


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## Toad (Apr 8, 2010)

(Bit of a bump)

I switched to dvorak yesterday and have rearranged the keys on my iMac and Macbook Pro now and I just completely love it


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## Sin-H (Apr 8, 2010)

well... I have rearranged my keyboard to Dvorak, but I still use QWERTZ (yeah, QWERTZ, not QWERTY), simply because I am already too frikkin fast with QWERTZ...


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## Toad (Apr 8, 2010)

Sin-H said:


> well... I have rearranged my keyboard to Dvorak, but I still use QWERTZ (yeah, QWERTZ, not QWERTY), simply because I am already too frikkin fast with QWERTZ...



Haha that's bound to confuse any thieves...


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## Innocence (Apr 8, 2010)

randomtoad said:


> Sin-H said:
> 
> 
> > well... I have rearranged my keyboard to Dvorak, but I still use QWERTZ (yeah, QWERTZ, not QWERTY), simply because I am already too frikkin fast with QWERTZ...
> ...



Or just any random keyboard hijackers.

I'm against rearranging keyboards, because it's easier for other people using your computer, and is less work, and better for people learning to touch type.

Switched from dvorak to colemak recently, because it's been proved to be slightly more efficient, and I'd only got to 40 wpm with dvorak, so ya.


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## Luigimamo (Apr 8, 2010)

31 words per minute with QWERTY
Might try Dvorak


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## Joël (Apr 8, 2010)

I use qwerty, but I know a good reason for switching:

Apparently, dvorak is faster (with practice), and if I can do everything I do 10x as fast as I do them now, I have more time left to finish things for which I normally don't have time. If I also do those things 10x as fast, I end up having 10x as much time for relaxation and hobby's... Like cubing .


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## CubesOfTheWorld (Apr 8, 2010)

Im 1 wps. I like my key layout, QWERTY, as it is.
achoo


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## StachuK1992 (Nov 23, 2010)

One-handed typing:
Experiences?

Since starting this thread, I've been using Colemak on more occasions than not.
Now I'm trying to decide on a consistent one-handed layout.


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## waffle=ijm (Nov 23, 2010)

what were you doing with the other hand :O


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## a small kitten (Nov 23, 2010)

Typing on another keyboard at the same time.


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## Cyrus C. (Nov 23, 2010)

I use Dvorak for OH (Left hand) typing as well as two hand typing. Since I usually only type one hand for fun, or while eating or holding something, it's good enough, and I don't have to change the layout.


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## StachuK1992 (Nov 23, 2010)

waffle=ijm said:


> what were you doing with the other hand :O


 ...


a small kitten said:


> Typing on another keyboard at the same time.


 Obviously Yu don't know a certain Nats story...perhaps that's best.
---------------------------------
anyway, on-topic!


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## ravenguild08 (Nov 23, 2010)

Though currently off-topic, I'm surprised so many of us use Dvorak. I haven't encountered anyone in person that used it. Well, not that I really asked, either...
In any case, I kind of regret learning Dvorak over the summer. It's been really nice typing lengthy pieces, but has otherwise gotten in the way quite often. Other computers, other users of my computer, gaming, tasks like ctrl-C/ctrl-V, and typing Asian characters all force me to switch back to QWERTY.


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## JTW2007 (Nov 23, 2010)

Are you talking about using Dvorak for OH and 2H, or using One-Handed Dvorak for OH?


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## AvidCuber (Nov 23, 2010)

I've had Dvorak installed on my computer for probably about 4 months and have been able to touch type, but only started using it more this month, because I had been able to type at around 100wpm with QWERTY before, and was typing at around 30wpm with Dvorak, so I stopped because it took forever to do stuff. However, I started using it exclusively this month and am now at ~70wpm, and I like it a lot more because it's way more comfortable than QWERTY. I can still type at around 90ish with QWERTY, but I find switching back and forth confusing (i.e. I have to start out on a certain layout, because if I try to switch while I'm in the middle of a session I get confused), so it's not a problem when I use public computers just to use QWERTY.


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## 4. (Nov 23, 2010)

The problem is that probably 80%+ of all keyboards use QWERTY. I often have to use some other computer than my own (friend's, school etc.) so switching back and forth would get annoying pretty fast so I just go with the flow.


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## avgdi (Nov 24, 2010)

This thread has inspired me to learn Dvorak.
I considered learning Colemak because I liked how the hotkeys were the same, and caps lock became backspace. But with a more in depth look at both layouts I decided I liked Dvorak more. Plus I can remap the caps lock and hotkeys myself.
I use both Macs and PCs. Dvorak is on both, and it is very easy to switch the keyboard layout between QWERTY and Dvorak. (In case I use someone else's computer or someone uses mine.)


P.S. That took FOREVER to type.


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## RyanReese09 (Nov 24, 2010)

StachuK1992 said:


> ...
> 
> Obviously Yu don't know a certain Nats story...perhaps that's best.
> ---------------------------------
> anyway, on-topic!


 
funniest moment of my life at nats...but you do hold the UWR i guess statue :3


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## ~Phoenix Death~ (Nov 24, 2010)

How is the Dvorak Keyboard Layout good for OH typing?


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## uberCuber (Nov 24, 2010)

~Phoenix Death~ said:


> How is the Dvorak Keyboard Layout good for OH typing?


 
go one page back and look at post #208


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## StachuK1992 (Nov 24, 2010)

JTW2007 said:


> Are you talking about using Dvorak for OH and 2H, or using One-Handed Dvorak for OH?


 
The latter.


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