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From: john@nmt.edu (John Shipman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc,comp.misc
Subject: Re: Dvorak keys vs. QWERT
Summary: Doesn't bother me to switch back and forth
Message-ID: <1990Sep7.055025.16732@nmt.edu>
Date: 7 Sep 90 05:50:25 GMT
References: <1990Sep6.154721.12322@iwarp.intel.com> <7657@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>
Organization: Zoological Data Processing
Lines: 31

Wes Hardaker (hardaker@iris.UCDavis.EDU) writes:
+--
| Does anyone know both keyboards, and do you have a problem
| getting confused?  I doubt anyone just know the Dvorak style
| since there are so few keyboards that support Dvorak.  I
| think this would be a problem switching from one to the other,
| however, or is the brain intelligent enough to seperate the
| two during their respective use.
+--

I converted my personal equipment to the Dvorak Simplified
Keyboard, but of course I often have to use QWERTY.  It
doesn't bother me for long, as the feel of the keyboard
tends to serve as a cue to tell me which layout to use.

If I start using the wrong mental set, after noticing a few
typos I tend to snap into the correct set.  My usual pattern
is to use full touch typing on Dvorak (not looking at the
keyboard at all), but during casual use of QWERTY I tend to
look at the keys.  If I have to use QWERTY for more than a
few minutes, my touch training on QWERTY kicks in.

Disclaimer: I don't know if my experience is typical.  I had
18 years experience touch-typing on QWERTY when I retrained
myself on the DSK, and that was ten years ago.  I seldom do
more than an hour or two of typing a day.  My QWERTY speed
never got much beyond 40 wpm, but I can generally do over 70
wpm on the DSK.
-- 
John Shipman/Zoological Data Processing/Socorro, NM/john@jupiter.nmt.edu
``Let's go outside and commiserate with nature.''  --Dave Farber