oh dear.

[egypturnash]

I'm typing this in Dvorak. My keys are still laid out in QWERTY. It appears that Powerbook keys are not too hard to lift off and replace, but I'm not brave enough to try it without a specialized tool. switching back to QWERTY-- I suspect the really hard bit will be retraining my muscle memory for Illustrator. I lean heavily on the keyboard shortcuts, and don't think of them as the letters any more - I couldn't tell you what keys to hit for some of the most frequently-used tools. It's a separate problem from learning to touch-type with Dvorak. I semi-touch-type with QWERTY: my hands flutter around the keyboard fairly quickly, but I really only use the first and second fingers of either hand, with the thumb for the space bar and pinky for the occasional stretch to do command-something with one hand. I'm finding that my long nails are a bit of a problem when trying to "properly" touch-type...

Comments

[rhinoscillator.livejournal.com]

Wow. I just realized I've been using Dvorak for about ten years. I put stickers on my keys at first, but since I learned to touch type I just leave it unlabeled... to the consternation of anyone else who tries to use my machine. :D

Early on, my speed hit a plateau around 65 or 70 words per minute. I think it's because I'm unwilling to make any typos.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

um... how long did it take to hit that? 'cause I'm at single-digit speeds right now. It's painful!

I was tempted to go the sticker/printout-by-the-monitor route, but I could tell that having half the keys so temptingly close to the proper position would be maddening.

[rhinoscillator.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I don't quite remember. Within a week I was up to maybe 30, I think. And a couple months on I was typing pretty respectably. The silly thing is, I'd switched in order to ease the strain on my hands, right during a bout of tendonitis, and of course the relearning process actually caused more strain while my hands dealt with conflicting impulses from my brain...

The main trouble I have with typing Dvorak on a QWERTY keyboard is remembering where hotkeys are for various things. The convenience of having X/C/V under your left hand for cut/copy/paste is gone and, probably worst of all, it puts Paste (V) perilously close to Close Window (W). But I do prefer it by a mile.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can see the old habits causing stress!

The Mac has a hybrid layout available that switches to QWERTY when the Apple key's down, but that seems like asking for trouble to me. I'll miss the physical-over-logical grouping of cut/copy/paste.

[rhinoscillator.livejournal.com]

Ooh. I just tested myself (Google: "typing test"), and I'm up to about 80 wpm these days. Maybe it's the bass playing.