Trials with Dvorak
Thursday, December 28th, 2006So it’s conceivable that I have too much time on my hands (not sure that it’s true but ultimately if I can’t experiment whilst I’m doing my degree then when can I?!?) but for some reason I found myself looking at Dvorak as an alternative keyboard layout.
Dvorak fans say that it is quicker (not yet it’s not!), strains the hands less and helps you have better sex. 
(that’s a lie BTW)
Dvorak studied letter frequencies and the physiology of people’s hands and created a layout to adhere to these principles:
- It is easier to type letters alternating between hands.
- For maximum speed and efficiency, the most common letters and digraphs should be the easiest to type. This means that they should be on the home row, which is where the fingers rest, and under the strongest fingers.
- Likewise, the least common letters should be on the bottom row, which is the hardest row to reach.
- The right hand should do more of the typing, because most people are right-handed.
- It is more difficult to type digraphs with adjacent fingers than non-adjacent fingers.
- Stroking should generally move from the edges of the board to the middle. An observation of this principle is that when tapping fingers on a table, it is easier going from little finger to index than vice versa. This motion on a keyboard is called inboard stroke flow.
Taken from Wikipedia.
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