As someone who has used the Dvorak layout for over 15 years, and loves it, it's my impression that the biggest reason people don't learn it, is because they don't know what they are missing. But dvorak is so much nicer, it was well worth the annoying first couple of weeks.
Another common misconception is that people fear that they will for some reason "unlearn" Qwerty, which is not the case at all. In fact, after this many years, for me it is easy to look at a qwerty layout, with the actual layout on the OS set to Dvorak, even while typing.
The best thing about learning dvorak is how it taught me things about how the brain learns concepts, autonomously. For example, I remember how, after an hour of practice, I went to do something unrelated, and every now and then I became conscious of how my brain was still processing the previous hour of practice. So I would see images in my mind's eye of pressing letters on the dvorak layout.
I also noticed how smoothly I started to type dvorak in the beginning of a practicing session, and, after a while, seemed to become more frustrated because the number of mistakes increased as time progressed. That made me realise that I should stop practicing when that moment of frustration would hit me, and then "let my brain take over from here". Then, once I stopped, there came the images, letting me know that the brain was still processing what I was trying to teach it.
It took me about a month of practice and the better I became, the more natural dvorak started to feel. Now I can type on both qwerty and dvorak, although qwerty does make me realise every single time, how bad that layout really is, in comparison. But what's also fun is that the brain seems to associate layouts with the actual computer -- if I was typing on a school computer, I'd start typing in qwerty without even realising it. Then, when I came home and continued behind my own PC, I continued in dvorak.
So for me, the most important thing that made me continue practicing it, was that this experience of learning dvorak in itself was already a lot of fun. It taught me how awesome the brain is, especially if you don't force it to do what you want with a timeframe in mind - learning dvorak at a speed that was good for me, and letting the brain carry on without "me" forcing it to become better, is how I learned more about how the brain is able to program itself with newly introduced concepts.
> But what's also fun is that the brain seems to associate layouts with the actual computer -- if I was typing on a school computer, I'd start typing in qwerty without even realising it. Then, when I came home and continued behind my own PC, I continued in dvorak.
I've noticed the same thing, but on a smaller scale: I use a Mac at work, but a PC at home. I have the same keyboard model (a Logitech wireless) in both locations. When I type on the Logitech model on the PC at home, I find myself hitting Alt (which is mapped to Cmd on my Mac) when I mean Ctrl. However, I don't have that problem when I use my PC laptop. It's interesting how the brain makes those associations.
I had a similar experience. When I went to France I bought a laptop, they only sell them with AZERTY layouts. Now, at work they had a QWERTY keyboard for me. Without realizing it I could write in AZERTY at home and QWERTY at work without any problem whatsoever.
The difference between both layouts is not that big, but enough to be felt.
My experience here is with my iPhone & iPad. Until recently, there was no way to use Dvorak with them, but I seemed to switch seamlessly. Though, there's something to be said about potentially different motor memory being used for thumbs vs. full finger layouts.
Very good points! I wholeheartedly agree with the idea of being conscious of your brain rewiring itself. It's a very strange feeling. Another time when I've felt it, though, is when I experimented using only my left hand for a month (including for writing homework assignments, etc.) It was very slow-going at first, but I found myself approaching things in a novel way... it's really weird to try to explain.
Yeah. It's like learning how to ride a bike - the first few times you've practiced, you consciously have to think of all the different details. Putting your foot on the pedal, keeping the steering wheel straight, pushing your foot down.. But, as you continue, you stop consciously thinking about an increasing amount of details, until you get to the point where you can drive a bike and talk with someone at the same time, easy peasy.
Right! I find it fascinating that "beginner's mind" is a concept spoken about in Buddhism a lot. I get the same sense when I travel to a country where I don't speak the local language. All of a sudden, everything is fresh and new. Better than the wildest drug ;)
At least for programming, it seems like predictive typing, Intellisense, templates, etc, negate the advantages a given keyboard might provide compared to a regular typist. Emacs or vi bindings contribute a lot to keystrokes type.
Perhaps... but even for a programmer, I'd submit that there's still plenty of "regular communication" (emails, slack/gchats, etc.) which would benefit from higher WPM.
Another common misconception is that people fear that they will for some reason "unlearn" Qwerty, which is not the case at all. In fact, after this many years, for me it is easy to look at a qwerty layout, with the actual layout on the OS set to Dvorak, even while typing.
The best thing about learning dvorak is how it taught me things about how the brain learns concepts, autonomously. For example, I remember how, after an hour of practice, I went to do something unrelated, and every now and then I became conscious of how my brain was still processing the previous hour of practice. So I would see images in my mind's eye of pressing letters on the dvorak layout.
I also noticed how smoothly I started to type dvorak in the beginning of a practicing session, and, after a while, seemed to become more frustrated because the number of mistakes increased as time progressed. That made me realise that I should stop practicing when that moment of frustration would hit me, and then "let my brain take over from here". Then, once I stopped, there came the images, letting me know that the brain was still processing what I was trying to teach it.
It took me about a month of practice and the better I became, the more natural dvorak started to feel. Now I can type on both qwerty and dvorak, although qwerty does make me realise every single time, how bad that layout really is, in comparison. But what's also fun is that the brain seems to associate layouts with the actual computer -- if I was typing on a school computer, I'd start typing in qwerty without even realising it. Then, when I came home and continued behind my own PC, I continued in dvorak.
So for me, the most important thing that made me continue practicing it, was that this experience of learning dvorak in itself was already a lot of fun. It taught me how awesome the brain is, especially if you don't force it to do what you want with a timeframe in mind - learning dvorak at a speed that was good for me, and letting the brain carry on without "me" forcing it to become better, is how I learned more about how the brain is able to program itself with newly introduced concepts.