Dvorak keyboard

[Tim]

There's a rumour of proper Dvorak keyboard support (and custom keyboards in general) in iOS8, due in the autumn.

[B J]

I like this extract from Wiki:

Writer Barbara Blackburn was the fastest English language typist in the world, according to The Guinness Book of World Records. Using the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard, she was able to maintain 150 words per minute (wpm) for 50 minutes, and 170 wpm for shorter periods. She has been clocked at a peak speed of 212 wpm. Blackburn, who failed her QWERTY typing class in high school, first encountered the Dvorak keyboard in 1938, quickly learned to achieve very high speeds, and occasionally toured giving speed-typing demonstrations during her secretarial career. Blackburn died in April 2008.

[Kath]

Blimey! I don't even KNOW 150 words! Let alone think of them all in one minute! ;)

[Tim]

My brain couldn't keep up with that, yet alone my fingers!

[Rosemary (grooving with the Picts)]

I can do that...

a a a a a a a a a a it it it ...

S'easy!

[Lynda]

That sort of word count is incredible, but I reckon I would increase my output just by being able to write for longer. At the moment, typing for even half an hour leaves me in pain.

Yesterday I typed for about two hours, learning the Dvorak layout and, although my hands ached a little at the end of that time, they weren't anywhere near as bad as usual.

Still made loads of mistakes, though ;(

[Simon (Highwayman)]

Lynda wrote: "Yesterday I typed for about two hours, learning the Dvorak layout and, although my hands ached a little at the end of that Yesterday I ..."

That is very interesting and impressive...

Perhaps it is time to think again about qwerty. It was designed mainly to minimise the snagging of typewriter levers I believe.

[Anna]

I was told that the qwerty keyboard was set as it is because the keys on typewriters used to stick together as they hit the paper if the typist was too fast. So somebody worked out which keys were most frequently used one after the other and separated them so that the 'arms' (?) of the typewriter were angled so they did not get stuck together as they hit the paper fast.

If you haven't seen an old typewriter, this will sound like gobbledegook.

As we no longer use metal arms and paper the qwerty keyboard is not really necessary. Or perhaps someone knows a reason why it is.

As for me, I touch type, so I won't be changing. And after a hard day's slog on the keyboard I can suffer from rsi (repetitive strain injury) too. I'm interested to hear about the wrist supports. I'll take a look. Thank you.

EDIT: Drat - I wrote the above without seeing there was a second page to this thread and drat, damn and blast, would you believe it, Simon has explained succinctly what I struggled to explain in dozens of words. No wonder my arms hurt.

[Tim]

I'm just looking at wrist supports on Amazon. Do I want a gel one or a memory foam one?

[Gingerlily - The Full Wild]

Tim wrote: "I'm just looking at wrist supports on Amazon. Do I want a gel one or a memory foam one?"

I have a gel one and its great.

[Simon (Highwayman)]

I have a gel one. I've never seen a memory foam one.

[Tim]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fellowes-Memo...

[Simon (Highwayman)]

Tim wrote: "http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fellowes-Memo..."

I mean in the flesh :-)

[David]

A flesh one sounds a bit creepy.

[[deleted user]]

I have heard a lot of good things about Dvorak and tried it out myself. I tried to practice it in http://www.typingstudy.com, it was very useful.