QWERTY vs. Dvorak

[COMALite_J]

In your article on whether the QWERTY keyboard was purposely designed to slow typists, you at first refer to Dvorak Simplified Keyboard as “a superior alternative.” But then you quote someone who apparently Emailed you a link to an article:

KEYBOARD SCAM EXPOSED!
Dear Cecil:

You and others have commented on the received “history” of the QWERTY [i.e., conventional] typewriter keyboard design and remarked on the supposed superiority of the Dvorak keyboard, which puts all the vowels in the “home row” and slightly favors the right hand. The time has come to put this myth to rest. Enclosed is an article from the Journal of Law and Economics. Enjoy. —Scott Koslow, assistant professor of marketing, University of Texas at Dallas

You then went on to say:

OK, doc, you got me dead to rights. The origin of the QWERTY keyboard, so named because that’s what the top row of letter keys spells out, is one of those oft-told tales about how we get stuck with an oddball standard because of a short-sighted decision by some mope(s) in the dawning days of a new technology.
⋮
Baloney, say the authors of the article you enclose, S.J. Liebowitz and Stephen Margolis. They point out that (1) the research demonstrating the superiority of the Dvorak keyboard is sparse and methodologically suspect; (2) a sizable body of work suggests that in fact the Dvorak offers little practical advantage over the QWERTY; (3) at least one study indicates that placing commonly used keys far apart, as with the QWERTY, actually speeds typing, since you frequently alternate hands; and (4) the QWERTY keyboard did not become a standard overnight but beat out several competing keyboards over a period of years. Thus it may be fairly said to represent the considered choice of the marketplace. It saddens me to know I helped to perpetuate the myth of Dvorak superiority, but I will sleep better at night knowing I have rectified matters at last.

Not so fast! According to this rebuttal to that specific article, it’s pretty darned biased and inaccurate itself, for several reasons! Before you conclude that you have indeed rectified matters, maybe you should read both sides of the debate?

In my own personal experience (not backed up by any studies, though I’d love to see some done), the main flaw keeping the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard from being more widely adopted is the positions of the letters [A] and [M]. Why? Because those are in the same positions as they are in the Sholes QWERTY layout! Why is that a problem?

When I was trying to learn Dvorak typing, despite already knowing QWERTY (the case for most modern computer users), I could do fine in keeping the Dvorak layout separate in my mind, right up until I had to press either of those two keys (and, of course, they’re both pretty common letters). Then, it was as if my brain (or “muscle memory”) would have about a fifty-fifty chance of “flipping over” to the other layout, and I’d type the next few letters as if from the QWERTY layout until I realized what’d happened, and I’d have to backspace and correct it. That also happened when I was typing on the QWERTY layout while trying to learn Dvorak.

If Dvorak were altered so that no keys were in the same place as they are for QWERTY, it might have a better shot, since this mental (or “muscle memory”) “track-switching” effect would no longer happen. As it is, it’s great if you’ve never used, and never will use, QWERTY. But how likely is that to happen?

[Silver_Tyger]

I’ve switched to Dvorak. I had problems with mentally switching layouts in the middle of words as well, although I’ve gotten over it. (Although now at work I see the keyboard as Dvorak for a few minutes until I get used to Qwerty again).

The problem with A and M is just something you get over. I highly doubt it’s a majso reason Dvorak isn’t widely used.