Kinesis keyboards unfortunately rocades [sic] the entire upper row one key. This may not matter much if the layout is numbers in ANSI order, but it causes the wrong finger assignment in the Programmer Dvorak layout.
This is either dated or simply inaccurate, because it ignores the fact that on a Kinesis Advantage Pro (like mine) you can remap any key to any other key at the keyboard level.
Of course, I haven't tested this with such a wacky Dvorak layout, or with any Dvorak for that matter. I'm a believer in good ergo keyboards, but I'm not a believer in Dvorak.
I'm just unconvinced. Dvorak might speed up my typing a bit, but I doubt that raw typing speed is a bottleneck for my work, and I doubt that the time saved will justify the sheer amount of time and trouble required to learn and practice the Dvorak layout. Meanwhile, I'm suspicious of the claims of a big ergonomic advantage. I'm not saying that the people who claim to feel better when using Dvorak are wrong -- but I'm not convinced that their results are generally applicable, nor that they necessarily rise above the level of the placebo effect.
I suspect that any time I would spend learning Dvorak would be better spent in figuring out how to get through life by doing less typing in the first place.
In theory, I could argue against the Kinesis in the same terms, but the investment required to come up to speed on the Kinesis is smaller (just a couple of days in my case). And many of its ergonomic advantages -- hands further apart, wrists at better angles, better use of the thumbs, less stretch for the pinkies because their keys are physically closer to them -- are unachievable with any other keyboard, no matter which keymap you use. I would certainly recommend trying a Kinesis before learning Dvorak -- if you're dead set on becoming the smoothest keyboarder in the world, there's no reason not to use both.
Comments
This caught my eye:
Kinesis keyboards unfortunately rocades [sic] the entire upper row one key. This may not matter much if the layout is numbers in ANSI order, but it causes the wrong finger assignment in the Programmer Dvorak layout.
This is either dated or simply inaccurate, because it ignores the fact that on a Kinesis Advantage Pro (like mine) you can remap any key to any other key at the keyboard level.
Of course, I haven't tested this with such a wacky Dvorak layout, or with any Dvorak for that matter. I'm a believer in good ergo keyboards, but I'm not a believer in Dvorak.
> I'm not a believer in Dvorak
Is it just a belief or do you have some reasons?
I'm just unconvinced. Dvorak might speed up my typing a bit, but I doubt that raw typing speed is a bottleneck for my work, and I doubt that the time saved will justify the sheer amount of time and trouble required to learn and practice the Dvorak layout. Meanwhile, I'm suspicious of the claims of a big ergonomic advantage. I'm not saying that the people who claim to feel better when using Dvorak are wrong -- but I'm not convinced that their results are generally applicable, nor that they necessarily rise above the level of the placebo effect.
I suspect that any time I would spend learning Dvorak would be better spent in figuring out how to get through life by doing less typing in the first place.
In theory, I could argue against the Kinesis in the same terms, but the investment required to come up to speed on the Kinesis is smaller (just a couple of days in my case). And many of its ergonomic advantages -- hands further apart, wrists at better angles, better use of the thumbs, less stretch for the pinkies because their keys are physically closer to them -- are unachievable with any other keyboard, no matter which keymap you use. I would certainly recommend trying a Kinesis before learning Dvorak -- if you're dead set on becoming the smoothest keyboarder in the world, there's no reason not to use both.
Fair enough.