Dvorak Simplified Keyboard

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Categories: Computer keyboards | Ergonomics

Image:Dvorak keyboard2.png
The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard layout

The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard is a keyboard layout designed by Drs. August Dvorak and William Dealey in the 1920s and 1930s as an alternative to the more common QWERTY layout. It has also been called the Simplified Keyboard or American Simplified Keyboard, but is commonly known as the Dvorak keyboard.

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Overview

Dvorak and Dealey studied letter frequencies 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 digraphs 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 middle (as an example, rap your fingers on a table and see which is easier: going from little finger to index or vice versa). 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.

Also, due to some of the above principles and other preferences, there is considerable variation between implementations in the placement of punctuation on the English layout.

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Resistance to change

Even though many feel that the principles on which the Dvorak keyboard is based should make it superior to the older QWERTY, there is divergent evidence about whether the logic of the keyboard actually translates into faster typing. Although studies performed by Dvorak and his disciples indicate a large advantage in typing speed (40%), other studies performed for the US General Services Administration and independent ergonomics investigations indicate either a small or nonexistent advantage (less than 5%). Certainly, attempts to universally convert to the Dvorak have not been met with success. Typists who are already proficient with the QWERTY layout do not want to have to relearn on a new keyboard, although Dvorak claimed that it didn't take very long to show an improvement.

In addition to the time required for a QWERTY typist to learn the Dvorak layout and become efficient when using it, keyboard shortcuts and applications requiring key position layout will be different in the Dvorak layout and may require further training. For example, the vi editor uses the keys H, J, K, and L to move the cursor to the left, down, up, and to the right, respectively, and with a non-QWERTY layout these keys make very little sense. (It should be noted that J and K stay together, that the space-bar can be used instead of L, and that vi allows keys to be remapped, which would allow the user to circumvent this problem.) Some computer games may be more difficult to play, especially those that assume relative positions of the keys used for motion, for example, A for left, W for up, S for down and D for right (although many games allow users to remap key assignments).

A discussion of the Dvorak Keyboard is sometimes used as an exercise by management consultants to illustrate the difficulties of change.

Dvorak may be better suited for situations where block-typing is done. However, the design has made some headway, with Dvorak layouts now available on most major computer operating systems. It is also possible to learn how to use Dvorak only for touch typing while retaining the ability to use QWERTY when looking at the keyboard (though a very few claim to touch type both keyboards efficiently, admitting it takes longer to learn this way). [1]

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Further improvements

NOTE: correctness of the layout shown here is in question. Software-based layout from Microsoft Windows apparently had a slightly different arrangement than the pictures shown here. In the Microsoft version, the number keys are in 2 columns only.

Image:Right-hand-dvorak-keyboard.png
Right-handed Dvorak layout
Image:Left-hand-dvorak-keyboard.png
Left-handed Dvorak layout

Dvorak also proposed an alternative ordering of the digits 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.

There are also Dvorak arrangements designed for one-handed typing that are useful for the disabled or for simultaneously controlling a mouse. One arrangement is designed for right-hand typing, while the other is for left-handed typing.

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Other languages

In addition, Dvorak-based keyboard layouts have been created for languages other than English.

An implementation for Swedish, known as Svorak, places the three extra Swedish vowels on the leftmost three keys of the upper row, which correspond to punctuation symbols on the English Dvorak layout. These punctuation symbols are then juggled with other keys, and the Alt-Gr key is required to access some of them. Another Swedish version is Svdvorak that keeps the punctuation symbols as they were in the english version. The first extra vowel (å) is placed in the far left of the top row while the other two (ä and ö) are placed at the far left of the bottom row

The Norwegian implementation (known as "Norsk Dvorak") is similar to Svdvorak with "æ" and "ø" replacing "ä" and "ö".

A Finnish DAS keyboard layout follows many of Dvorak's design principles, but the layout is an original design based on the most common letters and letter combinations in the Finnish language.

There is a Brazilian ABNT2 layout for Windows and Linux, called BRDK.

The most common German Dvorak is the German Type II layout. It is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

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Controversy

The Dvorak keyboard is often used as a standard example of network effect(s), particularly in economics textbooks, the other standard example being the competition between Betamax and VHS. These examples (particularly QWERTY) are also used to demonstrate that inferior products might get locked-in to the market. Liebowitz and Margolis, two economists who have investigated these claims in several academic and popular papers, argue that the actual evidence in these cases do not support a claim of Market Failure or lock-in. In circumstances where profits are unavailable to entrepreneurs who lead consumers to better choices, they agree that mistakes might be made, such as in the choice of institutions or languages. This has led to a series of articles and books that attempt, among other things, to dispute the evidence for the alleged superiority of Betamax and Dvorak. In academic circles their version of the QWERTY story is generally accepted since no one has successfully attacked it.

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See also

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External links

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Dvorak tools

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Evidence

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Controversy

  • The Curse of Qwerty by Jared Diamond provides the traditional story of the history of the typewriter including the claim of superiority of the Dvorak keyboard.
  • The Fable of the Keys - Article by Liebowitz and Margolis questioning the Dvorak keyboard's superiority.
  • Asetion - Comparative table of the Dvorak and Asetion layouts, highlighting some of the issues with the Dvorak layout.
  • Typing Errors - Article in Reason Magazine by Liebowitz and Margolis alleging evidence against the Dvorak layout's superiority.
    • Cassingham letter Letter to the editor of Reason Magazine by Randy Cassingham criticizing the claims made by Liebowitz and Margolis.
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Foreign language layouts

de:Dvorak-Tastaturlayout es:Teclado Dvorak eo:Klavaro Dvorak fr:Clavier Dvorak it:Tastiera semplificata Dvorak nl:Dvorak-toetsenbord ja:Dvorak配列 no:Dvorak nn:Dvorak pl:Klawiatura Dvoraka sv:Dvorak (tangentbordslayout) zh:德沃夏克鍵盤