I looked at learning an alternative layout last year and opted against Dvorak, as to me it just seemed illogical (personal opinion). I ended up teaching myself the Workman layout instead (https://workmanlayout.org/) which is actually really nice. I was using a split keyboard and I found it very comfortable when typing prose, but I found punctuation frustrating due to the board I was using it on. I'm currently back on Qwerty as I've swapped to a different board.
Ultimately I discovered that my typing style with Qwerty was actually not stressful on the hands (I float over the keyboard a lot and definitely don't sit on the "home" keys) and my RSI at the time was instead caused by position and lack of exercise. I now type on a Japanese layout keyboard which has some interesting differences to the standard UK ISO layout. At some point I might give Workman a go on this board too, but currently I'm actually completely happy with Qwerty again. I think a lot of these alternative layouts suffer problems if you aren't a home-row typist, and I don't actually think it's unergonomic or incorrect to type in a more floating, active way. But I play a bunch of key-based instruments too so maybe that affects my preference :)
It took me about 1 month to be close to my normal typing speed when using Workman btw.
Comments
I looked at learning an alternative layout last year and opted against Dvorak, as to me it just seemed illogical (personal opinion). I ended up teaching myself the Workman layout instead (https://workmanlayout.org/) which is actually really nice. I was using a split keyboard and I found it very comfortable when typing prose, but I found punctuation frustrating due to the board I was using it on. I'm currently back on Qwerty as I've swapped to a different board.
Ultimately I discovered that my typing style with Qwerty was actually not stressful on the hands (I float over the keyboard a lot and definitely don't sit on the "home" keys) and my RSI at the time was instead caused by position and lack of exercise. I now type on a Japanese layout keyboard which has some interesting differences to the standard UK ISO layout. At some point I might give Workman a go on this board too, but currently I'm actually completely happy with Qwerty again. I think a lot of these alternative layouts suffer problems if you aren't a home-row typist, and I don't actually think it's unergonomic or incorrect to type in a more floating, active way. But I play a bunch of key-based instruments too so maybe that affects my preference :)
It took me about 1 month to be close to my normal typing speed when using Workman btw.