The subject of the Dvorak keyboard has been brought up in this group
four times in the last three years. Thought this might be of some
interest as in addition to working wood, posters here work a keyboard.
Aset keyboard
It has been said that the most common letters were taken off the home
row of the first typewriter keyboard to slow down the typist and
prevent jamming.
On a Dvorak keyboard almost sixty percent of average text is typed from
the home keys. Transposing the letters 'etni' with 'dfjk' would put
more than 55% of text on the home keys, up from only 26% on the qwerty
layout. Thats more than twice the text typed without lifting a finger.
The change is quite pleasant and easy to learn. I hope you will pass
this on.
To put e, t, n and i back where they belong, there is a keyboard
remapping program that is free, downloads quickly and is very easy to
use. I am typing this post on a keyboard remapped to the 'etni'
transposition layout. The program is called 'Keytweak 2.11' and can be
googled up by that name. It is available from several sites, including
PC magazine and recommended by several keyboard manufacturers,
including TypeMatrix. The creator of the program is Travis Krumsick.
1) After you have loaded the program click start.
2) Click the "KeyTweak" icon and a graphic of a keyboard will appear.
3) Click the "Full Teach Mode" at the bottom of the screen.
4) A box will appear. Click "Begin Teach Mode".
5) Press the key you want to reassign, then the key you want it
reassigned to, in this case D to E.
6) Click "Remap Key#1 to Key#2"
7) The box will disappear and the scancodes of the keys will appear in
the "Pending Changes" window at the bottom right.
8) Follow the same procedure (from 3) for E to D, and the remaining
six remaps.
9) Click "Apply" and you will be asked if you want to turn off the
computer to apply the changes.
At the top there is also a clickable "Restore Defaults" to give
you back your qwerty layout.
I was able to remap in under three minutes and restore qwerty in
thirty seconds, not including the restart.
You can try out the sample lines of text below to discover that your
fingers already know where etni should go.
nineteen lean little saints settle in a nest
jkjdfddj ldaj lkffld askjfs sdffld kj jdsf
an alien eats an ant antenna in atlanta
aj alkdj dafs aj ajf ajfdjja kj aflajfa
elite sense entails a siesta in a satin seat
dlkfd sdjsd djfakls a skdsfa kj a safkj sdaf
a stain is seen at a linen sale
a sfakj ks sddj af a lkjdj sald
a latent latin talent tast tests in seattle
a lafdjf lafkj faldjf fasf fdsfs kj sdaffld
insane santa sails in sea salt
kjsajd sajfa sakls kj sda salf
Many thanks,
Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > On a Dvorak keyboard almost sixty percent of average text is typed
from
> > the home keys. Transposing the letters 'etni' with 'dfjk' would
put
> > more than 55% of text on the home keys, up from only 26% on the
qwerty
> > layout. Thats more than twice the text typed without lifting a
finger.
> >
> > The change is quite pleasant and easy to learn. I hope you will
pass
> > this on.
>
> Good idea for someone just learning to type. I've been doing it for
45
> years and I'm not going to take the time to make a change now. Some
days
> lifting my fingers is the most exercise I get.
I had been using qwerty for decades and I found the change fairly
easy to adopt. I have a problen with often transposing l and o as
well. When I first started, lifting my fingers for dfjk seemed to take
enormous effort. I have read some posters who suggest that Dvorak
should be the early learning layout, and others who warn against it as
in will cripple their ability to use any other computer provided by a
library or school.
I think keeping it close to qwerty, keeping the letters under the
same fingers, makes it a reasonable alternative for long time qwerty
users who just want a more comfortable keyboard, but if you need the
exercise...
Thanks for your post
<[email protected]> wrote in message
> On a Dvorak keyboard almost sixty percent of average text is typed from
> the home keys. Transposing the letters 'etni' with 'dfjk' would put
> more than 55% of text on the home keys, up from only 26% on the qwerty
> layout. Thats more than twice the text typed without lifting a finger.
>
> The change is quite pleasant and easy to learn. I hope you will pass
> this on.
Good idea for someone just learning to type. I've been doing it for 45
years and I'm not going to take the time to make a change now. Some days
lifting my fingers is the most exercise I get.