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Dvorak Keyboard Layout

cubekid

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Has anyone here switched from dvorak to colemak? And if so, why did they?

I type around 85-95wpm in dvorak, just curious if there's any real reason to switch over :/
 

shelley

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Colemak supposedly involves even less finger movement than Dvorak. It also uses capslock as backspace. Nobody really uses capslock anymore anyway, and it's a lot closer than the backspace key, which is handy if you make a lot of mistakes (which you probably will when you're learning a new layout). It also fixes a few little annoying things about Dvorak (e.g. the placement of the L key). It is more similar to QWERTY so QWERTY users may have an easier time switching over; also keys for the major shortcuts (Z, X, C, V) are the same so you don't have to relearn new positions for often used copy/paste shortcuts.
 

cubekid

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Crap, I should have actually read Leyan's post (I just assumed it was Qwerty -> Colemak). Oh well.

I like the fact that Colemak fixes the placement of the L key (I ALWAYS mistype L as /, and vice versa). Also, the fact that the major shortcuts are changed is nice.

However, changing the Caps Lock to Backspace is troublesome, since I use Caps Lock constantly. In case this is confusing, the reason I use it constantly is because I use vim, and in vim you use the Escape key a lot. I have remapped the Caps Lock key to be the Escape key.

Hmm... I guess that's the question I should be asking. Is there anyone who uses vim constantly AND has switched from Dvorak to Colemak...

Oh well, I suppose for the time being I'm content with Dvorak. The small quirks don't bother me too much, and I don't really see myself switching anytime soon.
 

Dene

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I think ill stick to dvorak i really like having all my constanants in my main hand and my vowels in the other. I'm still pushing like 5wpm but its getting easier...

YAY! After a couple of weeks with a fair amount of practise, I have learnt to touch type and am getting speeds of 40-44 WPM. This is steadily increasing although not as fast as I would like.
Also about Shelley's post, cool people use dvorak, and switch caps lock and backspace as well :D
 

Lofty

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What does Ryan Hiese's program actually do? I applied it after already having my computer in a dvorak type layout and i ended up with a layout that was neither qwerty colemak or dvorak. Thankfully a quick reset of the computer put my computer back to dvorak.
 

KubeKid73

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Is there anything that I can put on a flash drive that auto-runs and it temporarily makes the layout Dvorak and when I unplug it, it automatically goes back to QWERTY? I don't want to do anything more than plug it in.
 

not_kevin

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Is there a way to get a Dvorak keyboard for a Windows computer when the Control Panel has been disabled? I'd like to switch, but I use computers relatively often at school, and therefore have to keep using QWERTY, which doesn't help.
 

KubeKid73

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Oh yeah. Control Panel is disabled. And I wouldn't want to install Dvorak anyway, so it can't be that file that installs Dvorak because I couldn't enable it after its installed.
 

Lofty

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I think ill stick to dvorak i really like having all my constanants in my main hand and my vowels in the other. I'm still pushing like 5wpm but its getting easier...

YAY! After a couple of weeks with a fair amount of practise, I have learnt to touch type and am getting speeds of 40-44 WPM. This is steadily increasing although not as fast as I would like.
Also about Shelley's post, cool people use dvorak, and switch caps lock and backspace as well :D

Sorry to disappoint Dene but I just took all the keys off my keyboard and set them back on in Colemak.
Edit: 11wpm after using it for 5 minute and on my first test!!
 
Last edited:

fanwuq

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Is there anything that I can put on a flash drive that auto-runs and it temporarily makes the layout Dvorak and when I unplug it, it automatically goes back to QWERTY? I don't want to do anything more than plug it in.

Yes. Go back a few pages. to find mine and DChan's posts.
Dvorak should already be on your computer anyway without any installation. You can then go to control panel to select both qwerty and dvorak keyboards. So you can just switch between them with one click from your toolbar.
For Colemak, you do have to download it unless you are using Ubuntu.

Lofty: You could have just exit out of the little "H" next to your computer's Time.

Dene: Shelley uses Dvorak.
 
Last edited:

KubeKid73

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I mean for at school. I want to plug my flash drive in and it changes it automatically and when I unplug it, it changes back.
 

fanwuq

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