They say that the QWERTY layout (named for the arrangement of letters at the top left of the keyboard) was designed to keep letters that occur together often away from each other, so that the hammers flying across the typewriter wouldn't get tangled together.
The alternative, DVORAK, is supposedly better-suited for the computer age; and really, it is. I am now typing in DVORAK, and the letters are arranged based on frequency, so, for example, all the vowels are under my left hand, on the home row.
However, does the potential increase in speed justify the ridiculous mental effort required to overlay this over old habits?
Well, not if I need to make a living based on how fast I can type at the moment...
But it's pretty easy to pick up. I wonder if it's possible to retain typing skills in both systems... 'cos obviously I wouldn't have a DVORAK everywhere I go.
Ow, this hurts my wrists and my brain...
Ok, I'm back to normal now. Damn, but now my knuckles hurt so bad I can just barely type normally in QWERTY. What the hell was I thinking? Is it really worth it?
I mean, what kind of increase are we talking here? 15%? 20%? I mean, unless I gain a solid 50% on my typing speed, which is pretty damn good as it is, I don't see why I should persue this. In fact, I can tell it's already affecting me. Now I'm back on the QWERTY, I stall on certain common letters (S and E and T, mostly... I wonder why those...?) because I have the new imprint confused with the old one.
DAMN you, brain. DAMN YOU TO HELL, you worthless, one-track, mono-dextrous piece of goo.
The alternative, DVORAK, is supposedly better-suited for the computer age; and really, it is. I am now typing in DVORAK, and the letters are arranged based on frequency, so, for example, all the vowels are under my left hand, on the home row.
However, does the potential increase in speed justify the ridiculous mental effort required to overlay this over old habits?
Well, not if I need to make a living based on how fast I can type at the moment...
But it's pretty easy to pick up. I wonder if it's possible to retain typing skills in both systems... 'cos obviously I wouldn't have a DVORAK everywhere I go.
Ow, this hurts my wrists and my brain...
Ok, I'm back to normal now. Damn, but now my knuckles hurt so bad I can just barely type normally in QWERTY. What the hell was I thinking? Is it really worth it?
I mean, what kind of increase are we talking here? 15%? 20%? I mean, unless I gain a solid 50% on my typing speed, which is pretty damn good as it is, I don't see why I should persue this. In fact, I can tell it's already affecting me. Now I'm back on the QWERTY, I stall on certain common letters (S and E and T, mostly... I wonder why those...?) because I have the new imprint confused with the old one.
DAMN you, brain. DAMN YOU TO HELL, you worthless, one-track, mono-dextrous piece of goo.
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May Buddha shine his Gracious Light on your Inner Tiger.
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1 comment:
>the QWERTY layout was designed to keep letters that occur together often away from each other
It seems wrong. The most frequently used pair in English words is "th", which is adjacently placed in QWERTY. The second is "er" + "re", placed in neighbor of one another. Please see detailed discussion in my blog.
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