A Step Already Taken: The Dvorak Keyboard

Back in college I switched to the dvorak keyboard layout. The Internet is rife with flamewars on whether dvorak increases one’s typing speed, but I don’t care: it dramatically reduced my pain while typing.

When I switched, I worried about how long it would take to relearn the layout. Surprisingly, it only took about two weeks to get to were I didn’t have to consciously think about the location of the letters. After another two weeks, I returned to my previous typing speed.

I’ve seen a lot of people suggest various typing programs to help you relearn the keys, but that didn’t work for me. I found them too frustrating and didn’t like the feeling that I was starting life on the computer over from scratch. I recommend you learn the new layout by printing a copy of the keyboard and taping it to you monitor. Then, when you want to type something, look at the paper, not the actual keyboard.

This had the side benefit of making me a better typist. Even though I touch typed on qwerty, I didn’t realize how many times I actually sneaked a look at the keyboard. With dvorak I now have much better typing skills because I can’t look at the keys and I have to do it properly.

As a side note, I can no longer touch type in qwerty. This isn’t a problem for me as my employer changed the keyboard layout at work. On the rare occasions I do use a qwerty layout, I can type by keeping my hand on the home row, but I have to look at the keyboard.

I don’t recommend getting a dvorak keyboard or physically rearranging your keys, both seem like a waste of time and effort, when it’s simple enough to switch the layout using software.

To change to a dvorak keyboard on Apple OS X:

1. Open System Preferences

2. Go to international

3. Click the ‘input menu’ tab.

4. Scroll down the list and check either ‘dvorak - qwerty’ (this will let you keep the keyboard shortcuts the same) or just ‘dvorak’ (if you want to go hard core)

5. Check the box ‘Show input menu in menu bar’.

Now on your menu bar will be a little icon with either your national flag or the letters ‘DV’ on a black background. When the flag shows, the keyboard will be in the default setting for your country. When the DV shows, it will be in dvorak.