RE: A question about Dvorak's original arrangement of numerals - 7531902468

Yes, the correct hand position for the numbers has the left index finger on
1 and the right index finger on 2. Dvorak perhaps felt that the workload of
typing numbers would be balanced more equally between the two hands if one
hand typed the odd digits and the other hand typed the even ones. That may
be true; the regular layout (1234567890) probably overtaxes the left hand.
 
Early typewriters had neither a 1 nor a 0; the typist was expected to use a
lowercase l and a capital O. (And the exclamation point had to be typed as a
period with an apostrophe superimposed by means of the backspace. That's why
it often looks peculiar in old typescripts.) The 0 eventually became
standard, but the 1 was still omitted from many typewriters until recent
times. The book from which I taught myself to type even instructed me not to
use the 1 key if it was available but to use l instead! I disregarded that
advice because the 1 was properly designed and blended with the digits
better than the l did, and also because it was easier to type a string of
digits entirely on the top row without reaching down for the l. When
computers became popular, many typists continued to use l for 1, a practice
that corrupted many a database.
 
I have a Dvorak typewriter that uses Dvorak's arrangement (7531902468), but
on my own custom-designed computer keyboards I use 1234567890. For the
shifted keys on my Latin layout I use !@#$%?&*(), whereas Dvorak specified
#()"%_¢$@*. (Shift-7 in Dvorak's layout is the cent sign, a c with a
vertical stroke through it. I mention this because the character may not
show up correctly on some reader's computer screens.)
 
Scott Horne
 


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