Keyboard Layouts

Tuesday night I got a longish lecture on the advantages of the Dvorak keyboard layout. So Wednesday morning I started learning Dvorak. It's much more comfortable but I remembered why computer programs that teach typing skills are so frustrating. Usually they beep if you hit the wrong key, which usually means that the next two or three keys you hit will be wrong as well. The idea behind these programs seems to be "Type at 10 words a minute with 100% accuracy, then improve your speed."

Some advantages that I like already: Because of QWERTY keyboard layouts, when I'm typing fast (usually about 60 WPM) I frequently end up typing my name as Johs, and I have an 'sh' pair in my last name as well, so I have to fix both of them. On the Dvorak keyboard, 's' and 'h' are typed on the same hand, so it's hard to get them in the wrong order.

On the other hand, I also fell into a trap because I don't type by the book. I don't use my right pinkie finger all that much. I twist my wrist and use my ring finger to hit a lot of those upper keys, so I'm trying to learn proper keyboarding technique and one of my fingers doesn't respond all that well.


I know, this blog is supposed to be about writing. I turned in another story for critiques on Tuesday, but I think I overworked the story. I've got good paragraphs in places, and the events fall in the right order, I think, I just feel like I wrote and re-wrote and edited this story too many times. I'm not expecting great reviews like I got last time.