[John Gault]

I am thinking about trying an alternative layout keyboard and was wondering if anyone has any comments? ie. how much of a productivty increase/decrease, learning curve, ect. I am mainly thinking about the Dvorak Keyboard but am interested in any info on any alternative layout.

[All_Insane]

I switched to Dvorak last month when I was bored (and drunk). I use it at home only (still on Qwerty at work) and I don't type thaaaaaat much these days now that I'm out of school. On Qwerty, I type about 50 - 60 WPM, with Dvorak, I'm sitting around 25 WPM after a month of use.

But I'm starting to feel more comfortable with it. Now that I'm not in school, I've been hungering for a challenge, and this works.

One thing I found is that if I enabled Qwerty and Dvorak, the computer would sometimes switch back to Qwerty for no reason.

[chrisdisregard]

Haven't tried any myself, but I've read that the Dvorak layout can increase wpm if you can train yourself to use it well. I would say the main problem would be switching back and forth, ie. home vs. work. Unless you can use one layout 100% of the time I'd guess the learning curve could be rather long. It's been quite a number of years since my last keyboarding class in highschool (on a typewriter) and I still have a hard time not putting a double space after a period. I figure if a small thing like that is annoying. Changing to a whole new layout would be a real pain.

[StarCross]

When my left hand was in a splint (kind of a pseudo-cast), I forced myself to learn Dvorak right-handed so I could continue writing. It's comfortable in a way that all the keys are easily accessible, but it doesn't really improve speed (duh, one-handed typing). I did have to download a keyboard layout file and install it in the System folder of some sort, and that is because OS X doesn't include a Dvorak right and left-handed layout compared to Linux and Windows.

I had no problem with it working with almost all applications and dialog boxes, provided that one enables "Use one input source in all documents" option under the International Preferences. For some reason, Opera insists on wanting to use U.S. Qwerty, at least in 10.4.8.

I went back to using Qwerty after my hand healed. I can switch back to Dvorak right-handed at anytime, although I have to type some test keys to get myself to remember. Comes in handy when you're holding the phone with one hand and jotting notes on the keyboard.

I might consider using Dvorak standard, although I'd like to have both hands do equal work. Dvorak standard seems to be slanted for righties, and I'm normally right handed (but I mouse with the left).