Typing With One Hand (No, Not Like That)

You might rememeber a few weeks back I was talking about some carpal-tunnel-like pain and numbness I was experiencing in my left hand, and how that led me to start trying Dragon NaturallySpeaking dictation software for text entry (or, as you might like to call it, “writing”).

It worked pretty well, and if that seems like something you might like, I’d recommend it. But I was finding it a little inconvenient — I like to work in coffee shops and libraries, and there’s no way I’m going to be yammering into a microphone somewhere like that.

So instead I’ve been typing with just my right hand. You ever try that? Go on, try it.

Slow, isn’t it? Your hand has to just keep moving back and forth too far over the keyboard. The layout just isn’t meant for it, obviously.

It turns out there is a keyboard layout designed for it — Dvorak for right hand. There’s nothing special I had to download to switch to it — it’s an option within Windows.

I didn’t really want to yank the keys off of my netbook and re-arrange them, so I went with the less drastic method of ordering these keyboard stickers. They weren’t super-expensive, they arrived quickly, they seem pretty durable, and they look good. Check it:

click to embiggen

The result? I’m trying it out right now — I’m writing this whole post with it. It’s actually pretty easy for me to switch, since I’ve always been a hunt-and-peck typist anyway (albeit a very fast one). I am having trouble getting used to where they’ve put the period key, and I seem to have some weird mental block about where the “G” is located. But otherwise, it seems fine.

So is this slower than typing on a standard keyboard with both hands? Oh, yeah. A lot. Mainly because I’m not used to it yet, I think. But despite my unfamiliarity, this already feels faster than one-handed typing on a regular layout. This is a promising start.

(My left hand is starting to feel better, by the way. But this will help give it the break it needs in the meantime.)