A Word on Dvorak

This page was written in response to the "Consider QWERTY..." page.

The page entitled "Consider QWERTY..." blatantly ignores the reason for the modern resurgence in interest in the Dvorak keyboard layout. It has nothing to do with typing speed (though I and all I know who use Dvorak regularly will gladly attest to the fact that our typing speed has improved noticeably) and everything to do with comfort.

At sixteen, I was already on the verge of developing carpal tunnel syndrome, and already experienced typing-related pain on a regular basis. I'd been using computers daily for nearly eight years; mostly typing (email, coding, IRC, general writing) or using a mouse in "twitch" games (such as Quake). This eventually lead to occasional significant pain and loss of dexterity in my right hand and somewhat less severe symptoms in my left.

Finally, in mid-July of 2002, it got so bad that I decided to, among other things, stop playing Subspace (extremely hard on my right hand due to the uncomfortable but effective control layout I used for it) and work on moving my hands and wrists to less stressful positions while typing. Additionally, my right wrist and hand were in such severe pain by this point that I began typing and -- more difficult -- using the mouse, with only my left hand to attempt to speed recuperation of my right. I also considered voice input solutions, but they were (and remain) impractical for me.

I knew that everything I was doing was a band-aid. It would merely delay the inevitable, and not by much. I'd likely be in for surgery in ten years or less. The only long-term solution was to get off QWERTY, but I doubted I could. I'd been using it constantly for eight years, and typed quite fast (~80wpm in rapid, informal chat, up over 105 in certain circumstances). I didn't think I'd be able to unlearn QWERTY quickly enough to not go nuts.

Happily, I was wrong. I began using Dvorak and within ten days I was typing at around 40wpm; over 50 if you don't count all the backspacing over mistakes. Within a month it was approaching 70wpm, and in two months I was nearly back to full speed. Within six months, I was typing around 10% faster than I was with QWERTY. I also could no longer touch-type on a QWERTY keyboard. This routinely presents interesting challenges, but hardly insurmountable, and completely offset by the lack of pain!

The symptoms in my hands and wrists have all but disappeared. Certainly they never will completely as long as I continue typing, but I'm now good for many years to come. Now by the time my typing catches up with me, I'll be able to afford an alternate type of keyboard (the standard "ergonomic" keyboards are actually harder on my hands) such as the DataHand (currently ~US$1300) and die by some other method than my wrists killing me.

People aren't switching to Dvorak to increase typing speed. Indeed, I find the implication to be absurd. We switch because Dvorak is simply easier on our hands. We don't have to move our fingers into uncomfortable and extremely stressful positions nearly as much, and load is distributed more evenly between hands, further reducing the severe symptoms many of us experience due to extreme overuse of our hands in repetitive motions.