First keyboard: Qwerty or Dvorak?

Question

Should I start my toddler off with a Qwerty or Dvorak keyboard?

I use Qwerty myself. I have tried to learn Dvorak but I failed. The Qwerty key strokes are so hardwired in me that it would take a monumental effort to change. But I am persuaded that Dvorak is a better layout, at least for typical users. So if I was starting from scratch I would learn Dvorak - and I'm wondering whether I should encourage my toddler to do this.

I can see she'd have some problems, particularly on school computers that inevitably use Qwerty. But these problems can be dealt with; all modern OS support Dvorak. Does anyone have practical experience of this?

Would it be worth talking to the school, to see if they'll teach the whole year group Dvorak?

Answer 1

Short answer: use Qwerty.

Long answer: it depends:

Why do you want to introduce Dvorak? Hear me out -- I think Dvorak is great but the mere fact that it's not the universal default makes for a difficult reality.

First: The difference lies in typing comfort, not speed. There is no noticeable speed difference between Qwerty and Dvorak, provided that the test subjects are well trained in their chosen layout.

I have no hope at all that Dvorak will slowly become the dominant layout - ever. It's been around nearly as long as the Qwerty layout, and even in this millennium its usage is limited to those experts/geeks who care about this - but they are less than 0.001% of the workforce.

Still, using Dvorak would be recommended if you're J.K. Rowling or Stephen King (or an average office worker) just because you'll be typing a lot. But if you won't be using a keyboard most of your career, then Qwerty is probably the wiser choice simply because it is the universal default.

Using Dvorak is neat. It's comfortable. Learning it is a horrible pain for those who were already proficient in Qwerty before they started with Dvorak. If you're a hunt-and-peck typist then you won't even notice the different layout :-) and if you're just starting with typing then both would be learned equally well. This is of course what you're thinking of.

But realize that for someone who is proficient only in Dvorak will have a hard time when he/she is not at his own keyboard. (I use a Danish layout but live in Austria, that little bit of layout difference is enough of a challenge!) There will be plenty of situations where you'll be facing a Qwerty layout, and you won't have the luxury to simply install Dvorak before you start typing. Many businesses restrict the software permissions, and many times in life you'll be borrowing someone else's workplace for a limited time. Also: shared home computer?

There are countless situations where this is going to be bothersome, and you'll feel like an outsider, and you'll be dealing with questions about why you're weird. This is reality, unless you practically never use anything but your own computer.

Do the benefits in comfort outweigh the trouble it brings? That's an individual assessment, and you can't know what your child will do in the future. Your idea is commendable, but I think there are bigger battles to fight, more important issues in life to spend your energy on.

Source: I've been proficient on Qwerty for 25+ years and started using Dvorak a few years ago - but still haven't made the switch full-time, in part because of workplace difficulties.

Answer 2

I know Dvorak is faster, but I would say Qwerty.

My logic is that 99% of the keyboards she'll run across in her life will be Qwerty. It's not worth the trouble to type amazingly fast on 1% of the keyboards, but have to sit and painfully peck on remaining 99% keyboards. Even if she could always carry a keyboard with her, it still will limit her (think laptops.)

But what would help is to train her to type correctly (typing tutors, etc.) Most never take the time to learn, and wind up hunting-and-pecking which limits the upper speed limit regardless of the keyboard layout

I doubt the school would go with Dvorak, for the same reasons. Installed base is a very, very powerful force to counter.

Answer 3

I daresay that the keyboard layout is not an issue for typing speed for 99% of population. Correct typing on a qwerty is fast enough, trust me - I know, since I work in IT and don't type properly, and it is fast enough (>400 characters per minute).

Use the standard qwerty layout, but make sure your child learns to type properly. There are lots of applications which aid in such learning. Some of them are online, some of them are even fun:)

Answer 4

Premature optimization is the root of all evil and perfect is the enemy of good. You are optimizing a toddler for typing speed.

Why go halfway?

Drop dvorak, get a chorded keyboard and teach gregg shorthand.

Unless you are a stenographer, thinking about what you type is far more important than how fast you type it.

If your goal is to build a better child then drop dvorak and typing until the child is old enough to at least read and write. Instead, teach things like algorithms as part of play. You can find all sorts of ways to teach things like prim's algorithm, dykstra's algorithm, hill climbing and sorting.

Answer 5

I always sucked at typing, but about 10 years ago used an online tutorial to learn Dvorak. I would never go back to QWERTY.

Compatibility with other computers is a moot issue to-day. Every modern Windows and Macintosh computer has the option of numerous layouts, and it's easy to toggle to the other keyboard with the click of a couple of keys. On mine, it's merely a matter of simultaneously pressing the Shift and Ctrl keys. My wife uses only QWERTY and we have no problem sharing the same computer. Before I retired, we used Mac computers at work, and I never had a problem shifting layouts.

I would get amused sometimes when co-workers wanted to borrow my computer for a few moments. They couldn't get it to work. I would come over and type something and say it works fine for me. I would lead them on for a moment before toggling the keyboard, then they could type on it with no problem.

I would teach my kid to use Dvorak.

Answer 6

My two cents: I would teach QWERTY. That's what they'll be expected to use in school. Making her learn a different layout at home is just going to confuse the issue, more than likely, and make school more difficult.

Unlike languages, keyboard layouts are incredibly easy to learn at an older age, if the student is interested. I learned Dvorak in a few weeks, as in was up to near my normal QWERTY speed after a few weeks. If your child is interested, she can learn on her own later on without much difficulty.

Answer 7

Answer: QWERTY. For better or worse, it's the standard that she'll have to deal with everywhere outside your home.

I'm also a bit surprised by various answers that seem to accept Dvorak's claims of being faster as undisputed fact. This claim is actually quite controversial: the oft-cited early studies are problematic, and modern studies are generally inconclusive at best. And as Wikipedia points out, even though keyboards can be remapped, keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl-C/V are designed with QWERTY in mind (they're conveniently next to each other), which handicaps Dvorak in real life.

Answer 8

Dvorak, definitely, and I say that as someone who doesn't know how to type on a dvorak keyboard.

Dvorak is marginally faster. The verified typing speed world record holder used dvorak, and she sustained 150 wpm for 50 minutes. When my first girlfriend learned to type, I'd been typing qwerty for a decade and could type at a respectable speed of 80 wpm; she got to 100 wpm in a two week software course. A friend of mine switched from qwerty to dvorak, which granted was a pretty difficult process, and was typing faster on dvorak than he had on qwerty within a few months.

However, speed is less important than health. Because finger movements on the dvorak keyboard are smaller and more natural, the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome is substantially lower. Given how much people use keyboards in offices these day, this is probably the biggest consideration.

Keyboard availability is a nonissue. It only takes a couple of keystrokes to switch a PC between qwerty and dvorak. Even if that weren't available, how often do you type on someone else's keyboard? I can't remember the last time I did it.

If I ever get a couple of weeks where I don't have to type, I'll use it to switch to dvorak. Unfortunately, given I've been typing for 40 years now without such an opportunity, that might be never.

Start your daughter out right and teach her dvorak. Especially if you're going to start her as a toddler, use dvorak because it will minimize the number of big stretches which for her small hands will require moving her hands and arms around.