[Minstrel]

Does anyone else use the Dvorak keyboard layout? I have found it to be faster, more efficient, and easier on my hands than QWERTY.

Retraining took me roughly two weeks, at two hours of work a day. I was up to my previous QWERTY speed (55 wpm) by three weeks. In the original retraining, it is better not to use QWERTY at all. Once you are solid in Dvorak, it shouldn't hurt you to use QWERTY once in while (someone else's computer, etc).

My personal experience was that after retraining to Dvorak, I wasn't able to use QWERTY at first. I had to "retrain" to QWERTY. However, this was a very fast process because the neural pathways are already there. The statistics are that fifty percent of people who retrain to Dvorak are able to use both layouts interchangably. The other half find that this is too confusing and they must choose one or the other. I've never heard of anyone choosing QWERTY after experiencing Dvorak, although rest assured you could easily and quickly switch back if you needed to.

I found the following pattern: Learn Dvorak, took 3 weeks. Return to QWERTY, one week. Return to Dvorak, one week. Return to QWERTY, two days. Etc. I am still unable to switch back and forth at top speed right away. However, if I have used QWERTY for a while at 55 wpm, I might start at, say, 30 wpm when I return to Dvorak, but be back up to 70 or 80 within 24 hours. And vice versa.

There is a very simple toggle in the control panel to switch to Dvorak. You don't have to buy a new keyboard.

Some of the benefits of Dvorak: QWERTY is seventy percent left handed. Great for you left handers, not so much for the rest of us. Dvorak is fifty fifty. Dvorak has seventy percent of the typing on the home row.

I recommend actually using a typing program, such as Typing Instructer Deluxe. But I am sure there are people who have switched without a program.

Learning Dvorak will take much less time than learning QWERTY did. This is for two reasons: First, Dvorak is a better layout. Period. Second, you already have the basic "touch-typing" skills, the patterns your fingers move in to reach certain keys. It is just a matter of assigning new letters to the keys.

You should know that studies show training for more than two hours a day is not beneficial. You will do better with less.

The first two weeks are rough. You will feel frustrated, unable to communicate in either "language." But the results are amazing.

If I were to work on it, I am confident that using Dvorak I could reach much higher speeds than the 70-80 I have now. But even this is a great improvement.

Try it!

Minstrel