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When I read the original Dvorak keyboard article I was fascinated, but commented that I was very apprehensive about making the switch. I absolutely meant it. But as time went by, I began to feel that the Dvorak keyboard was threatening my manhood. My typing has always been decent, 70 wpm or so. Hard to tell exactly now, because I haven't tested my words per minute in awhile. In any case, the same disorder which causes me to try every new firefox extension and install a daily random freeware program eventually wore me down. (A week into the switch my qwerty abilities went straight to hell, so I can't test my wpm now.) For a time, I foolishly believed that I could master the Dvorak system while remaining proficient with Qwerty. Not so. The fingers forget.
The switch is actually really easy to set up. On my computer, all that was required was a quick trip to the control panel, and I was on my way. It even gave me a little keyboard icon down by my task bar, so that I could easily back and forth between the two keyboards.
At first I did a lot of switching. I can't begin to describe the frustration involved in not knowing where a key is, but nonetheless believing that you know where the key is. You hit a key, and the wrong letter appears. You feel a flash of annoyance that your machine has betrayed you, and hit the same key again, with identical results. Confounded and outraged, you hit backspace button and yes, try the same key a third time.
After the third time, it dawns on you that something is wrong. The brow furrows in concentration as you realize that the keyboard arrangement is no longer the same. The conscious mind reluctantly abandons its contemplation of the substance of what is being typed, and turns to the matter of where that cursed "h" has gone. This can have a profound effect on what is being said. The sheer exhaustion of concentrating on each letter causes one to begin to sound like a newcomer to the English language.
I downloaded a typing tutorial to help me make the transition. I have to recommend this tutorial, by the way. Its called KP typing tutor. When you get a letter wrong, a dog barks at you. A completed line awards you with the cheerful chittering of a dolphin. Some of the words they provide for you to type are misspelled. Besides all of this, the words seem devoid of any moralistic censoring, neatly juxtaposing heinous and hashish, aunt and anus, and ass and assiduous. Overall, it has the feel or an English typing tutorial compiled at great haste by a Hungarian expatriate with a somewhat twisted sense of humor, which gives it a dash more flavor than your standard typing tutorial.
I am two weeks into the switch now. I am no longer qwerty capable, and I am not yet proficient with Dvorak. For only having spent a total of six or seven hours typing this way though, I have to say that I am impressed. At this point I am advanced enough that I no longer hit the same wrong key multiple times. Now I hit three or four different wrong keys, but not nearly as often. Early on, I watched my hands when typing in both styles, and definitely noticed that my hands were more stationary and comfortable in the dvorak layout. All of the vowels and the most common consonants are conveniently located on the middle row, so the fingers do a minimal amount of movement. My biggest problem right now is my trial-and-error approach to punctuation, as I found that particular portion of the tutorial agonizing.
I may just give up on punctuation altogether. That would probably be easier than switching keyboards, and may even raise my typing speed by another 12 to 15 words per minute.
