February 12th, 2008 in Featured, Technology

Increase Productivity and Relieve Pain with the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard

If you have been looking for a way to increase your productivity without having to train your mind to think or behave in a completely new way, then many will point you to the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard. Well, they’re wrong, as I discovered; the time and effort to re-train your mind is quite extensive, but the time spent is worthwhile!

If you’re prepared to make some sacrifices - or rather, put up with some inconvenience - Dvorak can certainly save you some medical bills and some time.

The History of the Dvorak Layout

In the 1860s, Mr. Christopher Sholes developed the first commercially successful typewriter. When it came to the keyboard layout, he researched the most efficient key patterns. Unfortunately, when it came time to type on this layout, at any decent speed the machine would jam up - the key mechanisms would get in a tangle. To get around the mechanical limitations of the machine Sholes simply redistributed the keys so that the more commonly used letters were separated across the keyboard - effectively solving the problem by slowing the typist down.

The typewriter eventually became a commercial success, but by the time Sholes rectified his engineering shortcomings and proposed a better keyboard layout, the bigwigs selling the product weren’t interested in changing it, fearing that would hurt sales.

Fast-forward to the 1930s when August Dvorak became fed up with the inefficiency of the standard QWERTY layout and set out to engineer a better keyboard that met the demands of modern typists. He studied a number of things, such as letter frequencies, physiology, and ergonomics to design what came to be known as the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard.

Almost eighty years later, Dvorak’s keyboard layout is still rarely used, despite the numerous problems with popular layouts such as QWERTY and AZERTY. Dvorak died a poor man with his faith in humanity shattered:

I’m tired of trying to do something worthwhile for the human race, they simply don’t want to change!

- August Dvorak

Benefits of the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard

One of the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard’s greatest innovations was putting all the most frequently used consonants on the right hand side of the home row, and all the vowels on the left hand side. Every word has a vowel, and with QWERTY that means you’ve got to sprawl all over the keyboard to type almost all of them - the only vowel on the home row is the letter A.

By putting all those keys on one row, the typist has to move about less and can type a huge number of words all on the one row. This means:

Less strain on the wrist, and
The average typing speed increases

It’s not only an ideal layout for those experiencing wrist pain after working with computers all day long, but also ideal for those who want to squeeze the most out of each minute.

My Experience with Dvorak

At the beginning of 2007, I began experiencing pain in my wrists. For a while I just ignored it, but when I realized it wasn’t going to magically disappear I decided to do something about it. I figured it was obviously because, as a writer, I spend most days doing nothing but typing.

My first investment in 2007 was the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000. I set this up with my Mac mini (the irony was not lost on my wife, who still taunts me to this day) and within a week my wrists were feeling better; my left wrist was pain-free, but the effects on my right hand were, while existent, quite minimal.

In October, 2007, I purchased a Logitech VX Revolution mouse, designed to be a comfortable ergonomic mouse. It’s a notebook mouse that’s not too small, so I figured I could use it at home or take it on the road. It does a good job as a powerful (though somewhat overpriced) rodent, but the effect on my wrist was again minimal.

My search for some pain relief was what brought me to the next stage, my obsession with productivity aside.

Three months ago I rearranged my iBook’s keys and started learning Dvorak myself. While the layout has been refuted in studies as having little to not effect, I say: screw the studies. The pertinent wrist pain I was experiencing has all but disappeared, and I can safely say that I get more writing done each day. Whether that’s because it’s simply easier and less stressful, or because the Dvorak layout is by nature more productive, I can’t say for certain - the important thing is that it works.

Some Tips for Learning Dvorak Faster

If you type frequently, you’re going to have to prepare for this change mentally. As a writer, I spend most of my time typing every day, so I was expecting some annoying disruption to my usual way of working - but what I experienced was totally unforeseen. At first I felt as if I had been muted - as though someone had ripped out my tongue and throat too, cutting me off from my primary method of communication. It’s very disconcerting and feels a lot worse than it sounds. I think I learned something, in some small way, of how those with communication impairing disabilities feel.

Along the way I picked up some tips for getting over this incredibly uncomfortable phase:

Don’t do any QWERTY typing for at least the first three months. It is possible to be fast and efficient with both later on, but trying this from the get-go will only hinder your progress. I never completely gave up QWERTY during my transition because typing is my bread and butter and I couldn’t afford that much of a disruption; this decision did slow down the process. When I spent extended time away from QWERTY, using only Dvorak, I experienced significant gains in speed.
If you can afford the time and handle the frustration, don’t change the keys on your keyboard around. Print an image of the layout and keep it above your monitor, so you’re forced to refer to something at eye-level as you learn; this allows you to start touch typing much faster.
Do use a touch typing tutor that supports the Dvorak layout; if you dedicate yourself to learning the layout instead of just picking it up on the fly, you’ll have a much better chance of success. I suggest Keybr.

The most important tip is to relax. It’s going to pretty disturbing at first if you’re anywhere near as dependent on your keyboard as I am, so you just have to remind yourself to take it easy. In a couple of days you’ll be getting the hang of it; in a week, you’ll be typing pretty reasonably, and within a month or so you’ll start to see your initial speeds return. Know that they will come with time and patience, and don’t stress over it.

I do have to stress that investing in an ergonomic hardware set up helped a lot, and that if you’re considering Dvorak for pain relief or ergonomic reasons you should get these things in order too. However, if you find yourself unable to afford the ridiculous prices of some of this equipment, changing your keyboard layout is a good start.

WRITER'S BIOGRAPHY

Joel Falconer

Offering a unique perspective and insight on productivity based on his experience as a blogger, writer, musician, family man and manager, Joel Falconer has been published online and off, and brings to Lifehack's readers critical news and practical advice you can use to make life more liveable.

ARTICLES BY THIS WRITER »

36 Responses

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Steve says on February 12th, 2008 at 10:31 am

The keyboard pictured above is not a Dvorak keyboard.

I would post the URL of one but the URL is long, the blog column is thin and the blog doesn’t like tinyurl.com

Just google on “Dvorak” in Google Images
Joey says on February 12th, 2008 at 10:45 am

Really interesting article. How do you find it affects keyboard shortcuts, since it doesn’t look like Ctrl+S can be done easily with the left hand.
Joel Falconer says on February 12th, 2008 at 11:19 am

Keyboard shortcuts become somewhat irritating, but with time it becomes natural (while not optimal). For me, the gains in productivity/health made it a worthwhile compromise.
Terra Andersen says on February 12th, 2008 at 1:05 pm

Wow, I could never ever change the way I type. You described it as feeling “muted” at first, and I think I couldn’t get past that. It’s great that it helped your hands though! I’m sure I’ll end up switching one day. *=)

Great post!
jane says on February 12th, 2008 at 1:14 pm

You suggest changing your keyboard layout, but I can’t find where you show us how to do that or even a link to instructions. Am I missing something?
Ruby says on February 12th, 2008 at 1:16 pm

I have considered the Dvorak layout before, but it has a major shortcoming for me - it’s not available for non-English keyboards. Also, even if Dvorak is better for English language typing, for other languages with different frequencies it might not be as great?
Ted Max says on February 12th, 2008 at 1:21 pm

This piece is interesting but based on a number of myths.

Cribbing from the Straight Dope article about QWERTY, the common claims about the Dvorak keyboard are:

“Baloney, say S.J. Liebowitz and Stephen Margolis. They point out that (1) the research demonstrating the superiority of the Dvorak keyboard is sparse and methodologically suspect; (2) a sizable body of work suggests that in fact the Dvorak offers little practical advantage over the QWERTY; (3) at least one study indicates that placing commonly used keys far apart, as with the QWERTY, actually speeds typing, since you frequently alternate hands; and (4) the QWERTY keyboard did not become a standard overnight but beat out several competing keyboards over a period of years.”

In addition, there seems to be little evidence for the “QWERTY exists because otherwise the keys jammed” story.

So if you want to say ’screw the studies’ and use what works for you, go ahead. But don’t kid yourself that your solution is somehow the cleverest one compared to all those QWERTY chumps.
E.D. says on February 12th, 2008 at 1:55 pm

I made the switch in 2003 because I was writing my thesis and starting to feel the initial pressure of carpal tunnel in my wrists. At that point, I switched to a trackball mouse, but that didn’t alleviate the pressure in my left wrist. I’ve seen someone who have had unsuccessful surgery and someone who has so much pain he is stuck using a joystick to type. Compared to those options, trying a new layout is not that bad.

I’ll admit it was extremely frustrating for about a month as my brain rewired, and I think it would be much worse for someone who can not already touch-type in the QWERTY layout. I printed out a full-size Dvorak layout and used that for the first month. After that, it has been no problem. I can type just as fast and do not have any pain or pressure in my wrists.
Jesse Schupack says on February 12th, 2008 at 1:56 pm

Well, I’m givin it a shot. This is indeed very difficult.
Craig says on February 12th, 2008 at 2:27 pm

I switched to a Dvorak keyboard at work a few years ago and really enjoyed it. I am at my PC all day, but it’s more CAD and spreadsheets, so my speed really wasn’t measured.

Unfortunately, I shared a home PC with others and sometimes had to share the work PC, so I switched back. I would switch back to Dvorak in heartbeat if things were ideal.
Cameron says on February 12th, 2008 at 2:54 pm

The dvorak research was cooked, and there’s really no evidence that it’s any more efficient or more ergonomic, and there is evidence to suggest that Qwerty is actually more efficient. Check out this article for details: http://www.reason.com/news/show/29944.html
Josh Trotter-Wanner says on February 12th, 2008 at 3:40 pm

To setup the Dvorak keyboard; open the “Control Panel”, open the “Regional Options”, click the “Input Locales” tab. You can change the language and keyboard or add a new one that can be switched to using a short-cut. According to Microsoft these settings are per user so the other people the use the computer can stick with what they know.

Regarding the merits of Dvorak. It was easily proven that typing with Dvorak requires less finger movement. It has not been proven that it results in faster typing. I believe that if you type normal English documents such a letters, books, or blogs on a regular basis, it is worth changing to Dvorak, even if only to save your wrists.

Josh
J L says on February 12th, 2008 at 4:47 pm

I switched about six month ago. I had learned to touch type so long ago, that it had since become an automatic skill. Learning a new layout was unbelievably awkward. I had gone from touch typing about 70wpm in qwerty to having to spell each individual work with dvorak. But the individual letters soon became vowel consonant patterns, and the patterns eventually became words that came out by themselves, sans laborious effort.

It did have the unintended effect of destroying (temporarily) my knowledge of qwerty, but that came back slowly (mostly as I used my wife’s laptop from time to time).

I agree with the “screw the studies” attitude. The Dvorak layout has a much different feel to it, and your fingers tend to move less and there’s less clacking and hammering on the keyboard; this coming from someone who has busted many an enter key pounding home some command or other.

Is it for everyone? Hell no. Would I recommend it? Depends. Am I glad I did it. You betchya.
Shawn Levasseur says on February 12th, 2008 at 5:48 pm

Actually some of the arguments for / against Dvorak keyboard layout have been unduly influenced by political and economic viewpoints.

I talk about these arguments (and provide links to articles on the topic) in this post at my blog:
http://www.comicspundit.com/20.....-zine.html

Also refered in the article: a Dvorak keyboard documentary mini-comic, and the similarities between the QWERTY keyboard and the AK-47 rifle.
James McKay says on February 12th, 2008 at 6:17 pm

There is actually a much better alternative to Dvorak: a relatively new keyboard layout called Colemak. Only seventeen keys move from their original qwerty positions and only two change hands (cf with Dvorak the figures are 33 and 23 respectively). It also preserves the common shortcut keys such as Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V. And it is vastly more comfortable and ergonomic.

I estimate (based on personal experience) that an existing qwerty typist can learn Colemak in less than a fifth of the time it takes to learn Dvorak, and unlike with Dvorak, you don’t have to go cold turkey from the word go if you want to have any chance of switching: only two hours a night of practice should get you up to a sufficient speed to be able to use it full time in about 1-2 weeks.
Joanna says on February 12th, 2008 at 8:22 pm

I’d love to switch to Dvorak layout but I use also German, Spanish and Polish keyboard layout (QWERTY). Are there any options for those who need to type easily diacritics like ą, ś, ä, ß, á or ñ?
oakling says on February 12th, 2008 at 9:40 pm

My fear in switching was always that I would have trouble going back and forth, like between my computers at work and home - but it occurs to me that I could set up my work computer to use Dvorak or Colemak just as well. And it seems like the difference between driving stick and driving automatic - people can do both, and do, easily. Maybe Apple should look into making different keyboards and educating people about this stuff!
Dubious says on February 12th, 2008 at 11:16 pm

I too suffered severe wrist pain and carpal tunnel syndrome. It was getting very serious so I started eating hundred dollar bills. And you know what? It worked! My wrist pain went away and it was all because of my new high currency diet. Screw the studies, I mean what does “scientific testing” really mean anyways? Waste large sums of cash and cure wrist pain, it works!
Josh Zerin says on February 13th, 2008 at 1:09 am

Dvorak is definitely worth it. When copying text, I often go over 100 WPM in Dvorak when my top QWERTY speed was a paltry 80.

I learned Dvorak via this site:
http://gigliwood.com/abcd/

It took me about a week of full immersion to really get used to the layout. After about a month (again, full immersion, no QWERTY whatsoever), I was cruising at about 60 WPM.

My friends always get a kick out of watching me struggle with QWERTY. I have completely unlearned it, and I have to resort to hunt-and-peck when I use other people’s computers!

Also having a MacBook with the keys rearranged for Dvorak is a serious theft deterrent (:
Jen, writer MembershipMillionaire.com says on February 13th, 2008 at 1:39 am

I don’t know. I’ve gotten so used to my keyboard and its layout that changing them would only slow me down. The funny thing us, I don’t do the usual asdf finger alignment. I consider myself a really fast typer and I use a keyboard that has almost all of the letters gone. The only visible letter is Q. I think I type fast because of reflex or something. My fingers know instinctively where to land.
Renaud d'Avout d'Auerstaedt says on February 13th, 2008 at 2:03 am

@ Ted Max:

- the lack of research is mostly due to a lack of interest, results are self-evident
- there is huge practical advantage, especially for those of use who use dead keys
- yes, alterning hands (dramatically) speeds up typing but Dvorak is the best at achieving that, not QWERTY, thanks to the layout of all vowels at the left of the keyboard
- the “survival of the fittest” theory does not apply to QWERTY, even more poorly designed keyboards have survived locally (the French AZERTY is a good example).

Cheers
lily says on February 13th, 2008 at 3:03 am

That is a very interesting post on relieving stress! In fact, to find out more about other useful stress relieving techniques, check out http://www.howtorelievestress.org
Todd Smith says on February 13th, 2008 at 4:07 am

I wish they got this right the first time. Switching now seems to be too much work. Check out this ManagedQ search to get the full Dvorak story: http://www.managedq.com/search.....lank=00000
LeoG says on February 13th, 2008 at 10:32 am

The only keyboard I’ve ever learned is Dvorak. I’ve been using it since ~’90. QWERTY never made any sense and it was a paint to learn. I’m self taught via Mavis Beacon Typing Tutor which has always had a Dvorak layout option.

It’s very easy to learn until you look down at your standard layout keyboard — that’s when it doesn’t make any sense. Back then I owned Amiga computers and merely popped the keys off the keyboard and re-arranged them.

Back then your computers (PC or Amiga) only accepted one layout. The benefit is that it kept everyone else off of my computer. ;^)

Today XP will allow multiple accounts with individual keyboard layouts per user. All easily switchable with keyboard shortcuts.

If you’re not a typer now — get right — pick up Mavis Beacon and learn how to type the right way. QWERTY is so typewriter and oh so SLOW…
futbolaktif says on February 13th, 2008 at 1:46 pm

very good tnx.
Janet says on February 13th, 2008 at 9:01 pm

Here’s another tip - learn to use the mouse with your other hand, and swap every few days. It only takes a couple of days to master, it is quick to change the mouse button functions, and goes a long way to relieving wrist pain.
blargumentor says on February 14th, 2008 at 12:00 am

I totally agree. I changed my keyboard originally for two reasons — learn dvorak, and learn qwerty without looking.

Changing it had another side-effect…All my roommates would always ask to use my laptop, but since it was changed to dvorak (and the layout was still qwerty)- they couldn’t use it!!

They would ask me to type in passwords for them and what not…twas pretty cool.
Taranfx says on March 2nd, 2008 at 8:14 am

this is awesome

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Your Source for Music
steven says on April 26th, 2008 at 9:39 am

Interesting piece. I found the comments from the “scientific studies” folks entirely naïve. Surely the anecdotal evidence of those making the switch counts. I think I’d be taking a good look at who’s sponsoring these studies before I was so sure that there’s these keyboards aren’t a great way to eliminate some pain, and possibly speed up typing. The science worshiper has become the new blind zealot of our age. They discount anything that hasn’t been proven “scientifically”. Come on. Take a course in philosophy of science for God’s sake.