Timewaster's Guide Archive

General => Everything Else => Topic started by: Miyabi on October 06, 2008, 09:55:11 PM

Title: Dvorak
Post by: Miyabi on October 06, 2008, 09:55:11 PM
So, today, in between classes I took about an hour and a half and took all of the buttons off my laptop and changed them to the Dvorak layout.  Then I changed my keymap so that they matched.  So I am currently typing quite slowly considering I have very little idea where the keys are at. LOL

So basically I was wondering if anyone else used the Dvorak layout.
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: Eerongal on October 06, 2008, 10:08:35 PM
Nope. Never even had the slightest inkling of wanting to switch. Qwerty man here, through and through (and i'm too lazy to switch)



....Qwerty man....sounds like an awesome super hero to me!
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: Miyabi on October 07, 2008, 01:20:23 AM
ha ha

That it does.  I am liking it and learning the switch isn't as hard as I thought it would be.
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on October 07, 2008, 04:34:17 AM
I used it for a couple years but got out of the habit when I was using a lot of different computer lab computers. Also, people who tried to use my computer would get upset.

Dvorak has one failing I noticed: The : and / keys are too far away from each other, which made typing :// annoying. Of course, nowadays you don't need to type that for browsers to know where you're going.
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: Eerongal on October 07, 2008, 04:43:29 AM
although, I must admit, I've always had a small desire to try out a frogpad. (http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/6c82/?cpg=ab)
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: Miyabi on October 07, 2008, 05:25:47 AM
I used it for a couple years but got out of the habit when I was using a lot of different computer lab computers. Also, people who tried to use my computer would get upset.

Dvorak has one failing I noticed: The : and / keys are too far away from each other, which made typing :// annoying. Of course, nowadays you don't need to type that for browsers to know where you're going.
I think that part of the point was that you alternate hands a let which is supposed to increase speed.
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on October 07, 2008, 06:36:39 AM
Yes, I know, but it's a much simpler combination in QWERTY in terms of finger movement than it is in Dvorak. It takes two fingers to type in QWERTY and...okay, I guess it only takes the same two fingers in Dvorak too, but you have to move them a lot more. Of course, I do agree with it being ridiculous that the : is on a home key in QWERTY since it's so irregularly used, so the Dvorak layout for the right pinky almost always makes more sense. Typing :// is just the exception to the rule.

Oh, also, I was gonna say that I disagree with Dvorak's placement of “ ” ‘ ’ (on macs, using the option key)...except that I disagree with their placement in QWERTY as well. Oops! I should roll my own keyboard layouts.
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: Loud_G on October 07, 2008, 03:39:53 PM
I've been thinking about trying Dvorak on my home computer (I've got an old keyboard that I could mangle :) )

I never really learned to type very fast, so the learning process probably wouldn't be too bad for me :)
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: Miyabi on October 07, 2008, 04:26:55 PM
Yes, I know, but it's a much simpler combination in QWERTY in terms of finger movement than it is in Dvorak. It takes two fingers to type in QWERTY and...okay, I guess it only takes the same two fingers in Dvorak too, but you have to move them a lot more. Of course, I do agree with it being ridiculous that the : is on a home key in QWERTY since it's so irregularly used, so the Dvorak layout for the right pinky almost always makes more sense. Typing :// is just the exception to the rule.

Oh, also, I was gonna say that I disagree with Dvorak's placement of “ ” ‘ ’ (on macs, using the option key)...except that I disagree with their placement in QWERTY as well. Oops! I should roll my own keyboard layouts.

That would be pretty intense.
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: Pink Bunkadoo on October 07, 2008, 09:47:38 PM
I used it for a couple years but got out of the habit when I was using a lot of different computer lab computers. Also, people who tried to use my computer would get upset.

Oh yeah.  That was frustrating. 
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on October 07, 2008, 10:28:19 PM
On Mac OS X, it's very easy to make your own keyboard layout, especially if all you're doing is switching a couple letters. I'm not sure about on Windows.

You know what I mean about “ ” ‘ ’ though, right? “ and ” are on the option-[ and option-{ keys, and ‘ and ’ are on the option-] and option-} keys. Instead, ‘ and ’ should be on option-[ and option-] and “ and ” should be on option-{ and option-}. That would only make sense.
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: Miyabi on October 08, 2008, 12:11:36 AM
On Mac OS X, it's very easy to make your own keyboard layout, especially if all you're doing is switching a couple letters. I'm not sure about on Windows.

You know what I mean about “ ” ‘ ’ though, right? “ and ” are on the option-[ and option-{ keys, and ‘ and ’ are on the option-] and option-} keys. Instead, ‘ and ’ should be on option-[ and option-] and “ and ” should be on option-{ and option-}. That would only make sense.
Yeah that would make a let more sense.
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on October 08, 2008, 12:50:47 AM
Of course it made more of a difference before Microsoft programmed smart quotes into Word. Then again, maybe you never knew a version of Word that didn't have smart quotes. :)
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: SarahG on October 08, 2008, 06:36:01 PM
I clicked on this topic thinking it was about a composer.  You learn something new every day.
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: Miyabi on October 08, 2008, 06:42:02 PM
Ha ha ha ha.  That's great.

Ook, I remember having a Windows two machine so I totally hear you. ha ha.
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: Eerongal on October 08, 2008, 08:33:16 PM
I clicked on this topic thinking it was about a composer.  You learn something new every day.

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Dvorak1.jpg)
'Sup? Someone looking for me?



Hehe, that's actually what I thought when I first saw it, too, because that's the first thing that comes to mind when I see/hear Dvorak, not the keyboard config :P

Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: The Jade Knight on October 24, 2008, 08:43:05 AM
I do too much with foreign languages to use Dvorak.  I use US-International (which is qwerty with a lot of cool features).
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: Elmandr on October 24, 2008, 04:41:35 PM
I clicked on this topic thinking it was about a composer.  You learn something new every day.

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Dvorak1.jpg)
'Sup? Someone looking for me?



Hehe, that's actually what I thought when I first saw it, too, because that's the first thing that comes to mind when I see/hear Dvorak, not the keyboard config :P



Its like he knows you guys are dissin' his layout...Chap doesn't look to happy.
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: The Jade Knight on October 24, 2008, 10:34:37 PM
I also type one-handed a lot.  I expect a Dvorak layout would make this harder.
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on October 24, 2008, 10:52:42 PM
There are specialized Dvorak layouts just for typing with the right or left hand. (Great for people who don't have two hands.)

But you're right that Dvorak is not optimized for foreign languages. Each language has its own letter frequencies, so each language needs its own layout. Many people have made Dvorak-methodology layouts for other languages though.

The QWERTY typewriter was designed to slow typists down and keep keys from jamming up. Before that, keyboards were in ABCDEFG order. Typists were actually faster using that layout.
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: Miyabi on November 03, 2008, 07:42:14 PM
I hate keyboards that are ABC I get so confused as to where the letters are.  I'm really liking Dvorak though, it's working very nicely.  I've also noticed that it works very well for using an IME to type in Japanese because you have all of the vowels on your left hand so you can go back and forth from each hand with almost every other letter so you can type exceptionally faster than you can with QWERTY when typing in romaji input.
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: Loud_G on November 10, 2008, 05:37:25 PM
You know.....I always thought the musician's name was spelled Dvorjak with a j.

I learned something new from this thread (after spending an hour doing wikipedia and google searches) :D
Title: Re: Dvorak
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on November 11, 2008, 12:04:03 AM
Yeah... It's spelled Dvořák. In Czech, ř is pronounced kind of like rzh.