For the last week or so, I’ve been learning to type with the dvorak layout. Mainly because it’s supposed to save your wrists a couple of miles worth of typing every day (http://www.theworldofstuff.com/dvorak/).
“Less Finger Travel: Because of the arrangement of the keys, the Dvorak keyboard requires less finger travel. It has been estimated that a QWERTY typist’s fingers travel 16-20 miles a day, while a Dvorak typist’s fingers will only travel about 1 mile. This is a major benefit to the health of your fingers.”
So, I’ve followed the training on this page, as well as typed a couple of pages worth every day. I’m glad to say that as of right now, I’m up 30 wpm on the dvorak layout. Of course, this is still a far reach from my normal speed of around 80 – 90 wpm, but hey it’s not bad for one week’s worth of typing.
I’m planning on getting up to speed within the next 3 or 4 weeks, and hopefully switch to dvorak for most of my typing, because my writsts have been known to hurt once in a while from too much computer work.
Another thing I found by learning dvorak is that it’s actually quite fun to be able to switch back and forth between two different layouts without too much trouble. I guess our brain is really wired in an amazing way.
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