Speed benefits / myths

The other reason I've heard for switching to Dvorak is a speed increase. Supposedly, the layout is conducive to typing really fast -- all that finger-drumming; alternating sides of the keyboard between frequent consonants and vowels; &c.

Frankly, I don't believe a word of it. I typed 85-90 words per minute on QWERTY; I type the same on Dvorak after a year or so of use.⁴

But many people I've talked to say it worked for them. Why is this?

I have a theory about this.

1. People who type a lot -- and by a lot, I mean the upper echelon of typers -- are likely to be geeks. Geeks as a whole type way more than the population at large, who use computers for sporadic email and word processing, but do not code up pages upon pages of TeX documents about obscure keyboard layouts just for the hell of it.

2. Geeks, therefore, are more likely to develop wrist problems than other people.

3. Being resourceful like that, geeks will look for a tech-y solution, and will find rumors of Dvorak.

4. Those intrepid enough to try the switch will be forced to learn to type (a) with the correct fingers, and (b) without looking at the keys.

5. Now, geeks are also the type to never have learned to ``touch-type'' in the first place. Given a manual, the geeks will take it as a challenge, and disregard it for as long as possible, trying to figure out how to work their new toys by themselves. This is why they break so much shit, and also why they end up knowing how to fix it all. Many geeks I know taught themselves to type by putting their fingers somewhere on the keyboard and moving them as little as possible to get the job done, but without much thought as to correct position, wrist angle, &c. (this is probably why so many of them developed tendonitis or carpal tunnel in the first place!). I can't tell you how many three- or four-fingered geek typists I know.

6. In learning Dvorak, as mentioned above, these same geeks will have to learn to touch-type, unless they intend to relabel not only their keyboard, but the keyboards of everybody on whose computer they'll ever need to type. So, this will be the first time in their lives said geeks will ever learn to type both (a) with the correct fingers, and (b) without looking at the keys.

7. It is precisely that touch-typing which brings about speed.

I learned to touch-type QWERTY when I was six years old with Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. Because of that, I learned to type really fast from the outset, so I could do all my friends' typing assignments for them in school and then play QBasic Gorillas with them all class period long.

Touch-typing was not new for me when I got to Dvorak, so my speed did not increase. It did not decrease, either, but it led me to believe the speed thing is a myth.