During my institutional course I came across the term ‘touch typing’. The place where I come from there are only few people typing faster than 40 WPM. Then one day I saw someone type without looking at the keyboard, they weren’t fast but I was fascinated. And I wanted to try it out no matter what.
Why use Dvorak instead of the regular QWERTY?
To be honest, for no apparent reason. There are many people claiming that this layout will make you faster in the long run. It will prevent RSI(Repetitive strain injury). You can find the entire list of advantages on Wikipedia for Dvorak. I don’t want to bore you with the ones you already know.
But the main benefit of Dvorak over the regular QWERTY is “The Dvorak layout forces you to touch type”.
I highly suggest you not to use any kind of custom keyboards or keyboard skins while you are learning.
Are there any drawbacks?
I have personally used Dvorak Programmer for about six months. And there are a couple of big problems I faced I really wanted to share with you before you switch.
First one being, if your workplace or institution uses the shared computers, please don’t bother using any alternative layout. This will cause lots of trouble for you and others.
Secondly, other than your computer wherever you will type most probably you will be typing a few gibberish things first. And many times you will forget to revert the keyboard changes you made. And that will cause problems for others. This one is more like a caution.
Now two more things I heard about the shortcuts and Vim bindings. Believe me you won’t even feel the difference once you are fluent with the layout.
Using Dvorak on touch screens?
Personal opinion, a very bad idea. You are not going to learn anything new here. And the process itself will be time consuming and not rewarding. Most of the modern operating systems are equipped with gesture typing for touch screens. They are far better.
The Beginning — Type without glancing
Motivation
First of all you will need some kind of motivation. For that, I’ve got one video for you “Fastest Typist: Ultimate Typing Championship Final 2010 By Das Keyboard”. It is really fascinating to watch these people becoming one with their keyboard.
Practice
Guess what, the first month or two, you are doomed. Why? Because if you want to learn Dvorak you have to be committed. At least for the first year. You can’t keep switching layouts according to convenience if you want to learn. Better stick with one at all the places and all the time.
Tools
There are many tools out there on the Web as well as offline. Simplest are the Web applications.
I started with the Typing Club. This Web application will teach you the basics. Your finger positioning and movements and all other smaller stuff as you go. Numbers and Symbols all are covered. Reach till “Common Pattern 3”, with all the 5 stars in all the lessons.
Now for everyday practice as well as competing you can use Keybr. This application is very good. This will surely work. It will help you with both speed as well as accuracy.
Keep track of your speed. Make some sort of excel sheet. Mark down your speed every 15 days. This way you can really see the progress. If you want to, you can, else don't.
Final Thoughts
It is not always necessary to choose the best. Just go with your instincts. In case of the keyboard layout select anyone Colemak, QWERTY or Dvorak. Doesn’t matter. If you want speed for your gaming chat, regular chat or coding(Speed really doesn’t matter in coding) then stick with anyone and practice touch typing daily. Sooner or later you will improve your speed.
