Tuesday, April 15, 2008

DVORAK is HARD!!


I have so many things I want to write about, but have been recently crippled by an attempt at increasing my typing efficiency. I completely switched to the DVORAK layout last week and am in kind of a no man's land right now. I know where all the keys are, but I have to actively think about every keystroke. I have completely forgotten the QWERTY layout and am in a sad state of tortoise speed typing.

The most annoying thing is I find myself editing what I want to say in hopes to simplify my keystrokes.

Although I am frustrated right now, I am confident this is the right thing to do. The keys are much more logically laid out. I used to be able to type out words phonetically with my fingers with my mind doing very little legwork.

Questions:
1. How do I globally change to DVORAK? Right now I have to change the keyboard settings for each program i use.
2. How can I map my keys so Control+C, X and V etc. are associated with their QWERTY locations? Using these keys in their DVORAK locations is inconvenient
3. Any suggestions for DVORAK exercises to improve dexterity?

THANKS!

11/18/08 Update: I have finally exceeded my typing speed with QUERTY prior to switching to DVORAK! I am in excess of 45 WPM corrected for accuracy according to TypingTest.com. Typing is much more fluid with DVORAK. The only downside is using other people's computers. When I go back to QWERTY, I am almost completely lost. I can type my logins & passwords in QWERTY, but that is about it. Overall, I think if you are adventerous and a bit eccentric, take the dive. Embed a photo of the DVORAK keyboard in your desktop wallpaper and don't look back!

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