Dvorak Simplified Keyboard

The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard is a keyboard layout which is one of the more common alternatives to the QWERTY layout. It has also been called the Simplified Keyboard or American Simplified Keyboard, but is commonly known as the Dvorak keyboard. It was designed by Drs. August Dvorak and William Dealey in the 1920s and 1930s. The two studied letter frequency and the physiology of the hand and created the layout to adhere to these principles:

• It is easier to type letters alternating between hands.
• For maximum speed and efficiency, the most common letters and digraphss should be the easiest to type. This means that they should be on the home row, which is where the fingers rest.
• Likewise, the least common letters should be on the bottom row, which is the hardest row to reach.
• The right hand should do more of the typing, because most people are right-handed.
• It is more difficult to type digraphs with adjacent fingers than non-adjacent fingers.
• Stroking should generally move from the edges of the board to the center (as an example, rap your fingers on a table and see which is easier: going from pinkie finger to index or index to pinkie). This motion on a keyboard is called inboard stroke flow.

The layout was completed in 1932 and was granted U.S. Patent No. 2,040,248 in 1936. It was designated an alternate standard keyboard layout by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in 1982. In 1984 the Dvorak keyboard had an estimated 100,000 users.

Even though many feel that the principles on which the Dvorak keyboard is based make it superior to the older QWERTY, attempts to universally convert to the Dvorak have been met with resistance. Typists who are already proficient with the QWERTY layout do not want to have to relearn on a new keyboard. Even if QWERTY typists learn the Dvorak layout and become more efficient in the new layout, keyboard shortcuts and applications requiring key position layout (such as the vi editor which have keys h, j, k, and l on the home row) will be different in the Dvorak layout and may require further training. Games that require the relative positions of the keys for motion (for example a for left, w for up, s for down, d for right) may be more difficult to play. Dvorak then may be better suited for use in uses where block-typing is done. However, the design has made some headway, with Dvorak layouts now available on most major computer operating systems.

Dvorak also proposed an alternative ordering of the digitss on the numbers row, 7-5-3-1-9-0-2-4-6-8, believing this arrangement to be more efficient. However, few who use the keyboard employ this rearrangement, and indeed the ANSI standard calls for the usual numerical order.

(left and right handed Dvorak arrangement, respectively)

There are also Dvorak arrangements designed for one-handed typing. (For example, used by disabled person) One arrangement is designed for right-hand typing, and one for left hand. The single-handed typing appeared in two James Bond movies Tomorrow Never Dies by a information age tycoon and GoldenEye by a Russian computer hacker.

There is considerable variation between implementations in the placement of punctuation.

See also

• Velotype

External links

• The Dvorak Keyboard and You - More information about the Dvorak keyboard and how to switch
• Introducing the Dvorak Keyboard (with many additional links)
• Dvorak Information - Some information on the Dvorak layout.
• The Fable of the Keys - Article questioning the Dvorak keyboard's superiority
• Article disputing the validity of The Fable of the Keys