Dvorak Simplifed Keyboard

[Hang-Man]

I’ve often wondered why the standard QWERTY keyboard layout was laid out the way it was. It looked to me like the most inefficient possible ways to layout keys. It’s not, but it turns out it’s pretty close:

“The QWERTY layout was designed so that successive keystrokes would alternate sides of the keyboard so as to avoid jams. Some sources also claim that the QWERTY layout was designed to slow down typing speed to further reduce jamming.” - Wikipedia

Now that this is no longer a problem, obviously a layout with efficiency and hand fatigue as its top priority would be ideal. This was done by Dr. Agust Dvorak who patented the Dvorak layout in 1936 (also known as the simplified keyboard). Obviously, it hasn’t really caught on, although it was the layout used by Barbara Blackburn when she set the 212 WPM world record for typing speed. The Wiki article is here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard), and is fairly in depth. I was wondering if anyone here had any experience with it? How hard was it to switch? Was it worth it?

If nothing else, I find the prevalence of an inferior technology rather interesting. People waste no time upgrading their VHS players to DVD, yet this has been around for 70 years and nobody knows what the hell it is.

[ShadowMyGeekSpace]

Some sources also claim that the QWERTY layout was designed to slow down typing speed to further reduce jamming.Which it doesn't do. I can type in both QWERTY and DVORAK, and there is no improvement. I'm at ~120wpm with both of them. In the end, it's all about muscle memory.

I have been spending ~14-18 hours a day infront of my computers for the past 10 years, and don't experiance any fatigue at all with my hands, only my eyes get tired - and that's when im using a CRT. I'm fine with an LCD though... who know's what'll happen when I grow older, but for now I don't see the point.

[Cobalt.45]

f you never learned the QWERTY keyboard layout and had started out from the beginning using the Dvorak layout, I thing a real benefit could be seen.

The "ASDFG :LKJH" hand placement, and the muscle memory, as mentioned by ShadowMyGeekSpace inhibits ones ability to easily switch from one to the other.

[nbk2000]

Well, since the world uses the QWERTY board, and you'd be sorely fucked if you were away from your Dvorak keyboard, why bother?

[megalomania]

Maybe once the metric system catches on in America. It's supposed to be the standard by 1985... oh wait... Consumers would also save $billions a year if electrical power was DC instead of AC because of the AC peaks and spikes that fry equipment, but the switch would now cost $trillions. AC was easier to make 100 years ago, so they went with it. I am sure there are lots of other archaic systems from the past that linger today.

[sparkchaser]

DC power was rejected because of high loss during high voltage transmission due to overheating of the lines, and the inability to step up/down the voltage very easily without first converting to AC. AC doesn't overheat the lines as badly as DC, especially at high voltage, low amperage. That's why line voltage is in the hundreds of volts and stepped down to low volts high amps near your house. That's one archaic system that was actually adopted because of logic.

Now if only we could get the metric system adopted in America. I was born using ASM and just recently started using metric while stationed in Europe, god is it easier once you get used to it!

[Hirudinea]

Hey if I get a vote I want to start using 240 volts in North America, but the rest of the World has to move to 60 Cycles, and everyone has to move to Australian wall plugs and DVB TV Standard. :D

[Cobalt.45]

but the rest of the World has to move to 60 Cycles
My vote is to bump the cycles way up!:eek:

Just keep the forks out of the wall sockets.:p

[Hirudinea]

My vote is to bump the cycles way up!

Just keep the forks out of the wall sockets.

I put a paperclip in the socket when I was in grade 2 once and I'm just fine, well if you don't count the glowing pubes. :D

[10fingers]

The reason for the qwerty keyboard was to slow the typist down so the keys didn't jam on the old style mechanical typewriters. To change over now I think would be an impossible task.
The AC power transmission system is really the best, DC does not work in a transformer so you can't change the voltage or current to whatever is needed at the point of use.

[Cobalt.45]

There are applications for both AC and DC that favors one over the other, like the transmission-ability of AC or the portability of DC.

We're still working with standards that were set years ago. Advancements that have been made since then would be so costly to implement that it makes them pratically impossible to utilize.

A system designed today from scratch wouldn't resemble the current (no pun intended) set-up, that's for sure.

"The Grid" is one of the most vulnerable systems and at the same time, one of the most relied upon systems in North America.

Back on the thread topic. Just as every technology evolves, so too will the keyboard.

There's no way that in ten years, everyone will still be hunting and pecking on some antiquated, bulky piece of 18th. century technology.