So-called “Dvorak” keyboards replace the standard QWERTY key layout with a more thoughtful organization, putting vowels and constants in better locations to speed typing. Here’s the Dvorak layout:
Perhaps the theory doesn’t work as well as anticipated. Jon Porter spent ten years using a Dvorak keyboard and is meh. It did force him to learn to touch type though:
Eventually, yes, it made me a faster typist, but not for the reasons that I hoped it would. Dvorak made me faster almost entirely because it forced me to learn to touch type. For years I’d tried to do the same using a QWERTY layout, but when my old hunt-and-peck method was so easy to revert to I’d inevitably give up on touch typing when I needed to write something quickly. Dvorak was different. It forced me to learn to type properly, and eventually I did.
But outside of the advantages of learning to touch type, switching to Dvorak has brought some other benefits along with it. For one thing, my laptop is now a lot more secure. You can watch me typing in my password, but the mismatch of key labels and layout will confound you. Even if you knew the password, you’d have to translate the key positions from QWERTY to Dvorak to type it in. Then, if I’m ever stupid enough to leave myself logged in, it becomes a lot harder to do anything with my machine for anyone who’s not me. Mouse clicking only gets you so far.
I’VE USED DVORAK FOR 10 YEARS, AND I’M HERE TO TELL YOU IT’S NOT ALL THAT
I suppose the security benefits are… real? I dunno.
But it’s interesting that the theory doesn’t pan out. In theory, there’s no difference between theory and practice. But in practice…