Re: New dvorak user!

--- In [email protected], "Jenny" <strangeseraph@...> wrote:
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> 
> Well that's it, this post took me 40 minutes to write. o-o
>

Hi Jenny,

I see you've been typing DV for three days now; I bet you are considerably faster already!

If you are having pain in your hands as I once did, my advice is to get rid of the staggered keyboard in favor of the columnar layout that you get on a Typematrix 20030DV:

http://www.typematrix.com/ordernew/view_2030dv.php

It's got many advantages over other boards, but the best is definately the straight line key layout.  I used to have a lot of pain in my left wrist caused by twisting it to the left to reach up and down; and the back of my right hand hurt from the extra reach to the top row.  The columnar layout combined with the DV layout allows me to type with very little movement and I can even touch type the top-row number keys for the first time in my life.

A friend has a MS Natural keyboard and I have tried it, but it's still got that horrible staggered layout!  As well, I find there are times when you want to type a bit with one hand and that's really hard to do on a split keyboard.

Another BIG advantage of the Typematrix 2030 is the center placement of the 'enter' and 'backspace' keys.  This helps in a couple ways ...  the center enter is much easier to reach with either index finger and the backspace key is much easier than stretching your pinky waaaay up to the right.  As well, this places your hands 19 mm further apart with the extra column of keys in the center ... very comfortable.

Other advantages:  the embedded number pad - you just move both hands a little apart and down - to hold down the left function key to activate the number pad and to key in numbers with the right.

And concerning cut, copy, and paste.  The 2030 has dedicated keys for these and they are together just like x c and v on a qwerty.  They can be used one-handed easily.  Move your left pinky to the Fn key, hold it down and cut, copy, paste are under your ring middle and index finger.  Easy!

Another dedicated key that I haven't seen on any other keyboard is 'shuffle'  This works like pressing alt-tab once to switch back and forth between two applications, but it's done with ONE key... very nice and I really miss it when I use any other board.

The keyboard is physically smaller; however the keys are the standard 19mm size so it's a full size layout.  However, it allows you to place the mouse much closer on either side.  There are only 90 keys, but it does everything a 101 or 102 layout does and much easier.

Someone mentioned AutoHotKey (ahk)- I couldn't live without it.  A couple keys are rather useless (imo) on any layout - I speak of the scroll lock and the caps lock.  I use ahk to turn the scroll lock into a toggle for mute/unmute and the caps lock will click the mouse once at its current position... very useful when reading something where the 'next page' button is in the same position on every page.  And the 'backspace' key works as a 'back' key in any browser.  AHK also can make anything a hotkey - I launch many programs, maximize, minimize, run macros, move and click the mouse - all without using the start menu or touching the physical mouse!  My ahk setup script currently has about 3000 lines - it does too many things to mention here.

My typing history: typed qwerty for 25 years, switched cold turkey to Dvorak 20 years ago, switched to Typematrix about 3 years ago.

When I converted to DV, I went from 60 or 70 wpm to about 15 or 20 the first week, up to 50 or so within a month and steadily up after that - now I can do around 90.

Tips: DON'T relapse to get something done quickly; print out a Dvorak picture and place it between the keyboard and the monitor - you won't need it long; in a month or so you will be up to 75% or more of your old speed.

Welcome to DVORAK and congrats on your decision!