Dvorak: The simple keyboard
A taste of history first — When the Qwerty keyboard was invented in 1873 it was for a typewriter called the Sholes and Glidden. It was then sold to Remington and became extremely popular with the Remington 2.
The science of ergonomics was not sufficiently developed at the time and the Qwerty layout doesn’t stand up to closer scrutiny by ergonomists and industrial engineers, but the network effects of its initial success and the sheer convenience of convention has kept it as the dominant keyboard layout of the world for over 130 years.
As the years progressed- many worked to develop simpler alternatives to the original Qwerty design. Dr August Dvorak, a psychologist and professor of education designed the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard.
Ergonomic studies conducted contrasting the Dvorak and Qwerty designs have found that Dvorak on average only uses about 63% of the finger movement required for a Qwerty board and isn’t left hand heavy like the Qwerty.
However, despite the proclaimed benefits, Dvorak is not without its own share of controversy. Many studies suggest that the most dramatic benefits to keyboard layout originate from research conducted by the inventor himself.
Regardless, those who are interested in experimenting with Dvorak can check it out in a short tutorial here: www.earn.dvorak.nl/
The standard keyboard on any computer can be reconfigured to Dvorak using an easy tutorial online It is estimated that it takes a person who can touch-type (type without looking at the keyboard) around one year to become equally proficient with the Dvorak design, however this may be worth a try for people whose jobs require hours of typing every day.
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