Comments on: How I learned Dvorak http://boredzo.org/blog/archives/2007-02-03/how-i-learned-dvorak The personal weblog of Peter Hosey. Wed, 08 Oct 2008 07:08:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Simone Manganelli http://boredzo.org/blog/archives/2007-02-03/how-i-learned-dvorak#comment-7153 Simone Manganelli Sat, 03 Feb 2007 18:15:31 +0000 http://boredzo.org/blog/archives/2007-02-03/how-i-learned-dvorak#comment-7153 I just used a good ol' piece of typing software. <a href="http://www.macupdate.com/download.php/4264/MasterKey.dmg" rel="nofollow">Master Key</a> was my choice, but I'm sure there are plenty of other good choices for typing software out there. It took me about 3 weeks to get up to my QWERTY speed on Dvorak, and then another 3 weeks to get my QWERTY back up to its old speed so that I could use either keyboard when needed. Incidentally, I took that typing test that you linked, and I managed to get a net speed of 126 WPM with 2 errors ("Strategic Alliances with Competitors" paragraph). I was actually quite surprised -- I thought my normal typing speed was around 80 WPM or so. I guess when you're just transcribing and not actually writing, you can go much, much faster. One of the things that strikes me when talking about the Dvorak layout is that everyone touts that you can type much faster than you can with QWERTY. While I don't doubt that, I think it's equally as important to point out that you tend to make fewer errors, and you're more comfortable while typing. I just used a good ol' piece of typing software. Master Key was my choice, but I'm sure there are plenty of other good choices for typing software out there. It took me about 3 weeks to get up to my QWERTY speed on Dvorak, and then another 3 weeks to get my QWERTY back up to its old speed so that I could use either keyboard when needed.

Incidentally, I took that typing test that you linked, and I managed to get a net speed of 126 WPM with 2 errors ("Strategic Alliances with Competitors" paragraph). I was actually quite surprised -- I thought my normal typing speed was around 80 WPM or so. I guess when you're just transcribing and not actually writing, you can go much, much faster.

One of the things that strikes me when talking about the Dvorak layout is that everyone touts that you can type much faster than you can with QWERTY. While I don't doubt that, I think it's equally as important to point out that you tend to make fewer errors, and you're more comfortable while typing.

]]>