I don't know why mruts is being downvoted. The only reason to use Dvorak, imho, is the better ergonomics. I switched to it over a decade ago because my hands were showing early signs of repetitive stress. The pain went away right after switching and has not come back. The other benefit is that nobody can use my computers because nothing but gibberish comes out when they type.
That said, if you can type comfortably in Qwerty, I suggest using it. Being able to type on any keyboard without having to hunt around for the keyboard layout switcher is nice.
As someone who learned to type in QWERTY, Dvorak, and Colemak (in that order) my belief is that most people attribute ergonomics and improved typing ability to the new alternative layout they learned instead of the fact that they finally learned how to type properly, seeing as very few people I know seem to have learned how to properly type - even ones who can type much faster-than-the-average (80-120wpm where average is well under 60wpm)
I found Dvorak to be significantly worse than QWERTY in both speed and comfort, seeing as Dvorak is more heavily biased towards the right hand and I am left hand dominant (although mostly ambidextrous). I then gave Colemak a try and found it to be a bit more comfortable and eventually trained to reach my previous QWERTY speed of 165-170wpm. I use QWERTY at work but Colemak at home.
Note: by "mostly ambidextrous" I mean that most tasks I can use either arm/hand. I write with my right but throw and punch with my left.
my belief is that most people attribute ergonomics and improved typing ability to the new alternative layout they learned instead of the fact that they finally learned how to type properly
Not in my case. I first learned to type properly on Qwerty.
I found Dvorak to be significantly worse than QWERTY in both speed and comfort, seeing as Dvorak is more heavily biased towards the right hand and I am left hand dominant
I'm going to need to see some proof for that assertion. Just going off the top of my head, I'd say I type far more with my left hand than my right using Dvorak.
>Not in my case. I first learned to type properly on Qwerty.
I'll take you at your word, but most people I see claim this have extremely poor typing habits. Similar to a self-taught musician who ingrained poor habits because they never had anyone around to correct them.
>I'm going to need to see some proof for that assertion. Just going off the top of my head, I'd say I type far more with my left hand than my right using Dvorak.
Sure thing. Summing the frequencies in the English language and applying it to the keyboard layouts gives:
my hands were showing early signs of repetitive stress
I learned to type 37 years ago and type 160 WPM with 100% accuracy and have the www.typeracer.com profile to prove it.
About 15 years ago I started having RSI symptoms and ended up sleeping in braces every night because it got so bad. EMG studies showed significant damage to median and ulnar nerve conductivity. Someone on slashdot.org pointed me to the work of Dr. John Sarno. His theory is deceptively simple but if you take the time to truly understand and practice it, you won't have RSI issues any longer.
TMS is fringe medicine. Or non-medicine depending on who you ask.
It has a single peer reviewed article that only shows modest reduction in pain symptoms with no control group. The protocol involves emotional support/emotional sharing/etc. The reason why those two links were chosen rather than Wikipedia was because Wikipedia largely debunked it:
There's no known physical mechanism wherein TMS could work, and oddly its proponents haven't released scans of impacted areas (back, wrist, etc) that show this "increased blood flow" and physical restoration for which their claim is based.
Critics in mainstream medicine state that neither the theory of TMS nor the effectiveness of the treatment has been proven in a properly controlled clinical trial, citing the placebo effect and regression to the mean as possible explanations for its success.
Comments
I don't know why mruts is being downvoted. The only reason to use Dvorak, imho, is the better ergonomics. I switched to it over a decade ago because my hands were showing early signs of repetitive stress. The pain went away right after switching and has not come back. The other benefit is that nobody can use my computers because nothing but gibberish comes out when they type.
That said, if you can type comfortably in Qwerty, I suggest using it. Being able to type on any keyboard without having to hunt around for the keyboard layout switcher is nice.
As someone who learned to type in QWERTY, Dvorak, and Colemak (in that order) my belief is that most people attribute ergonomics and improved typing ability to the new alternative layout they learned instead of the fact that they finally learned how to type properly, seeing as very few people I know seem to have learned how to properly type - even ones who can type much faster-than-the-average (80-120wpm where average is well under 60wpm)
I found Dvorak to be significantly worse than QWERTY in both speed and comfort, seeing as Dvorak is more heavily biased towards the right hand and I am left hand dominant (although mostly ambidextrous). I then gave Colemak a try and found it to be a bit more comfortable and eventually trained to reach my previous QWERTY speed of 165-170wpm. I use QWERTY at work but Colemak at home.
Note: by "mostly ambidextrous" I mean that most tasks I can use either arm/hand. I write with my right but throw and punch with my left.
Not in my case. I first learned to type properly on Qwerty.
I'm going to need to see some proof for that assertion. Just going off the top of my head, I'd say I type far more with my left hand than my right using Dvorak.
>Not in my case. I first learned to type properly on Qwerty.
I'll take you at your word, but most people I see claim this have extremely poor typing habits. Similar to a self-taught musician who ingrained poor habits because they never had anyone around to correct them.
>I'm going to need to see some proof for that assertion. Just going off the top of my head, I'd say I type far more with my left hand than my right using Dvorak.
Sure thing. Summing the frequencies in the English language and applying it to the keyboard layouts gives:
Dvorak: Left 43.2%, Right 56.8%
QWERTY: Left 58.7%, Right 41.3%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_frequency#Relative_freq...
my hands were showing early signs of repetitive stress
I learned to type 37 years ago and type 160 WPM with 100% accuracy and have the www.typeracer.com profile to prove it.
About 15 years ago I started having RSI symptoms and ended up sleeping in braces every night because it got so bad. EMG studies showed significant damage to median and ulnar nerve conductivity. Someone on slashdot.org pointed me to the work of Dr. John Sarno. His theory is deceptively simple but if you take the time to truly understand and practice it, you won't have RSI issues any longer.
Resources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsR4wydiIBI
http://www.rsi.deas.harvard.edu/mb_what_is.html
TMS is fringe medicine. Or non-medicine depending on who you ask.
It has a single peer reviewed article that only shows modest reduction in pain symptoms with no control group. The protocol involves emotional support/emotional sharing/etc. The reason why those two links were chosen rather than Wikipedia was because Wikipedia largely debunked it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tension_myositis_syndrome#Cont...
There's no known physical mechanism wherein TMS could work, and oddly its proponents haven't released scans of impacted areas (back, wrist, etc) that show this "increased blood flow" and physical restoration for which their claim is based.