Dvorak Standard Keyboard

Last updated by Roedy Green ©1992-1999 Canadian Mind Products.

Purpose

In this document wish to convince you to try out Dvorak keyboard layout and help me convert the world away from the illogical QWERTY to the sublime DSK.

Your Guide

Your guide is Roedy Green, President of Canadian Mind Products, have pounded out about 30 MB of public domain code with my Dvorak keyboard including the BBL Forth and Abundance Database compilers featured in Byte Oct 86. People often ask me how I manage to write so many essays and post so much on BIX and on the Internet. The secret is the DSK layout that lets me type tirelessly all day long up to 100 WPM.

The Theory Of DSK

Back in 1872, Christopher Sholes designed the original QWERTY layout to slow you down as much as possible. Old mechanical typewriters would jam if you hit two keys too rapidly in succession. It was brilliantly designed to prevent you from doing this.

However, now that we have electronic keyboards, we want to do the exact opposite. We want to make it possible to hit two keystrokes in succession as quickly as possible.

Lee Merkel used this analogy to explain it: "QWERTY on today's keyboards is like having a Maserati limited to a top speed of 40 because the early cars might break an axle over 40 on a bumpy road."

In 1934 The Andrew Carnegie Foundation gave August Dvorak (a distant cousin of the composer) two grants to design a new keyboard layout. In 1936 the new layout was ready. The US Navy ordered 4000 keyboards, then cancelled.

The theory of the Dvorak Standard Keyboard (DSK) is simple. The most commonly used keystrokes should be the ones easiest to do. The layout puts the common vowels "aoeui" under your left fingers and the common consonants "dhtns" under your right. It is almost impossible to avoid touch typing.

Defense Of DSK

Articles in otherwise reputable magazines have run articles trashing DSK. They purport to have computed the miles your fingers travel to type the Gettysburg address using both DSK and QWERTY and come to the conclusion that DSK is a fraud. It is only marginally better certainly not worth the effort of conversion.

What moose feces! Your fingers don't move in straight lines anyway, and distance of finger travel is only very loosely correlated with typing speed. What determines speed has to do with the anatomy of the human nervous and muscular systems. The only way to integrate all these complex factors is to perform experiments with real people!

If you want to get an idea of the theoretical speed improvments, have a look at Jon A. Maxwell's Java Applet. You can type into it, and it will analyse such factors as total finger motion distance, number of times in succession you have to type with the same hand, or same finger, and number of times you use which rows (home, upper, lower).

That was done back in the thirties. DSK was the winner hands down. All the speed typing records are held on DSK. However, the real advantage of DSK is not speed, it is ease! You can type like blazes all day long and your hands don't get tired. Your hands aren't forced to continually make awkward motions like some Hannon piano fingering exercise.

The Conversion

I spend 8 to 16 hours a day at my keyboard. Switching to Dvorak has really paid off as you can see by my prodigious output. It is amazing how much time you spend typing and editing things. I could never touch type on QWERTY because it made my wrists and fingers ache, though I was one of the fastest four finger typists alive.

It took maybe a month before I gained even reasonable speed at DSK. It took maybe another five months before I was faster than I was originally, but now that pain is behind, it was worth it. It was very embarrassing working in an office situation having people hear my painfully slow keystrokes. "Green, why are you mucking about with that. We've got a job to do!"

I took so long to learn DSK, because I could not quit QWERTY cold turkey. I used an Apple Lisa on QWERTY during tha day and an IBM XT on DSK at night. There was no DSK software for the Lisa. I found that using only two fingers to type when I was forced to use QWERTY did the least damage to my slowly developing DSK skills. However to get the job done I often had to revert to QWERTY even on the IBM.

Only a tiny minority of DSK typist manage to retain the skill to touch type QWERTY. In general you cannot be a bilingual touch typist. Your finger reflexes have to be tuned to one system or the other.

There is a horrible in between period when your subconscious reflexes for DSK start to take over. You lose your ability to type QWERTY rapidly. There you are stuck in the middle for a while unable to type rapidly on either system.

However as I said at the beginning, you go through the conversion once, and ever after you reap the rewards -- every day for the rest of your typing life.

If I were to do it again, I'd wait till a time when I could guarantee that I could type DSK 100% of the time for at least two months without ever having to touch a QWERTY keyboard. I'd like to wait till a slack period so I wouldn't be tempted to revert to QWERTY to get the job done. But had I done that, I'd have waited forever, and I'd still be stuck on QWERTY. There is no such thing as a slack time, so perhaps all you can hope for is a time when no one is watching you too closely.

Typing Tutor

I was once the chief instructor at a computer summer camp. I interviewed each child as he came in and assessed his typing skills. Some of these kids could type in raw hex coding with perfect accuracy at incredible speed. I asked each of these wunderkinds how he learned to type so well. They invariably answered "Typing Tutor".

The program can be used to teach yourself either QWERTY or DSK. It automatically adjusts to drill you on your weakest letters.

I tried it for a while and on one memorable occasion clocked 100 words per minute on the standard typing test. There is absolutely ZERO chance I could have attained that sort of speed with the QWERTY layout.

Kriya Systems Inc wrote Typing Tutor IV. Simon & Schuster Software publish it. (212)-373-7770.

Typing Tutor appeals to the kid in you by turning typing into a video game. If you have never laid hand to keyboard before, you may need a more serious program like:

Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing The Software Toolworks One Toolworks Plaza 13557 Ventura Boulevard Sherman Oaks CA 91423 (818) 907-6789

ANSI Standard X4.22-1983 for the ASCII character set

  ~   !   @   #   $   %   ^   @   *   (   )   \   +
  `   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   0   |   =

       "   ,   .   P   Y   F   G   C   R   L   ?   [
       '   ,   .   p   y   f   g   c   r   l   /   ]

         A   O   E   U   I   D   H   T   N   S  ___  {
         a   o   e   u   i   d   h   t   n   s   -   }

 Shf   >   :   Q   J   K   X   B   M   W   V   Z  Shf
       <   ;   q   j   k   x   b   m   w   v   z

                          Space

The ANSI DSK standard is the most wishy washy document I ever read. It allows almost anything to call itself standard. However, reading between the lines, this is what I think they really intended to be the standard. They watered it down so as not to offend any manufacturer.

If they published a true standard, then manufacturers might have to retool to conform, and then you could move from keyboard to keyboard and type just as fast as you did on your keyboard back home. Heaven forbid that should happen! The companion QWERTY standard is just as bad.

Dvorak's Original

Dvorak worked for the US Navy in the days before I was born. He devised the layout. So we got at least one Good Thing TM for those billions we pour into the Navy.

Dvorak's original design was somewhat different from the current ANSI standard. He rearranged the numbers as well. He had one hand key odd digits and the other even. I don't have a copy of his layout in front of me but I believe the idea was, that since the low numbered digits 0 1 2 are used more frequently, they should be near the center of the keyboard. Scientific American did an interesting article on why, even in random tables of numbers, the digits 0 and 1 occur more frequently than 8 and 9.

He also devised layouts for people with only one hand. These can also be used by people with two hands, but whose other hand is occupied in some way as they type.

Roll Your Own

Unless you hop about from DSK keyboard to DSK keyboard, there is no real reason to slavishly stick with the ANSI standard. I have my own keyboard I carry with me and plug into whatever machine I'm working on. You spend so much time at a keyboard, why not custom fit it to your typing tasks?

I fiddled about with my layout over a period of months fine tuning it to suit my work.

For computer programming, especially in Java you use the { } and ( ) keys a lot. It might make sense to move the following keys to the middle of the top row, similar to DSK classic layout.
(  )  !  {  }
9  0  1  [  ]
It might also make sense to reverse the meaning of caps on the [ ] keys so they meant { } without caps.

You can gradually fine tune your layout to suit your own particular finger strengths, character frequencies, and character pair combination frequencies. You just try out various layout changes and one will feel distinctly more pleasant and easeful.

It's a QWERTY World Out There

In a pinch I hunt and peck with QWERTY. Superkey can quickly turn any keyboard into one that is roughly like my usual one. I don't really need the keycaps to match because I touch type anyway.

I still have to revert to QWERTY to use the electronic mail terminals in airports and when I am setting up a virgin machine when all that will run are the diagnostics.

Dvorak's Orginal circa 1936

      &   %   #   !   (   )   @   $   ^   *   +
      7   5   3   1   9   0   2   4   6   8   =

       :   ,   .   P   Y   F   G   C   R   L   &
       ?   ,   .   p   y   f   g   c   r   l   /

         A   O   E   U   I   D   H   T   N   S  ___
         a   o   e   u   i   d   h   t   n   s   -

      Shf  ;   Q   J   K   X   B   M   W   V   Z  Shf
           ,   q   j   k   x   b   m   w   v   z

                         Space

Approximation to ANSI Standard X4.22-1983 using IBM PC Keycaps

  Esc !   @   #   $   %   ^   @   *   (   )   |   +   Bsp   NmL   ScL
      1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   0   \   =

  Tab  "   <   >   P   Y   F   G   C   R   L   ?   }  Ent  7   8   9   -
       '   ,   .   p   y   f   g   c   r   l   /   ]

   Ctl   A   O   E   U   I   D   H   T   N   S  ___  {     4   5   6
         a   o   e   u   i   d   h   t   n   s   -   [

   ~  Shf  :   Q   J   K   X   B   M   W   V   Z  Shf Prt  1   2   3   +
   `       ;   q   j   k   x   b   m   w   v   z

   Alt                    Space                  Cpl     Ins    Del

This layout moves the left shift key back the position God intended for it. The keycap for it cannot be moved however.

Approximation using Keytronics Keyboard

  ~   !   @   #   $   %   ^   @   *   (   )   |   +   Bsp   NmL   ScL
  `   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   0   \   =

  Tab  "   <   >   P   Y   F   G   C   R   L   ?   }   {   7   8   9  Esc
       '   ,   .   p   y   f   g   c   r   l   /   ]   [

   Ctl   A   O   E   U   I   D   H   T   N   S  ___  Retrn 4   5   6   +
         a   o   e   u   i   d   h   t   n   s   -

  -   Shf  :   Q   J   K   X   B   M   W   V   Z  Shf Prt  1   2   3  Ent
(Shf)      ;   q   j   k   x   b   m   w   v   z       *

   Alt                    Space                  Cpl     Ins    Del

This layout has two left shift keys. Some software distinguishes between the two kinds of minus key, and thus this layout will not work since the numeric minus was sacrificed to give you a second left shift key.

Approximation to ANSI Standard X4.22-1983 using 101 Key AT keyboard

  Esc     F1  F2  F3  F4  F5  F6  F7  F8  F9  F10  F11  F12

~   !   @   #   $   %   ^   @   *   (   )   |   +   {  Bsp
`   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   0   \   =   [

  Tab  "   <   >   P   Y   F   G   C   R   L   ?   }
       '   ,   .   p   y   f   g   c   r   l   /   ]

CapsLock A   O   E   U   I   D   H   T   N   S  ___  Ent
         a   o   e   u   i   d   h   t   n   s   -

      Shf  :   Q   J   K   X   B   M   W   V   Z  Shf
           ;   q   j   k   x   b   m   w   v   z

Ctrl  Alt                  Space                     Alt   Ctrl

This layout moves the left shift key back the position God intended for it. The keycap for it cannot be moved however.

Prelco 84 key layout for XT/AT - no software required

   ~  !   @   #   $   %   ^   @   *   (   )   {   }   |  Bsp  Esc NmL ScL Sys
   `  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   0   [   ]   \

  Tab  "   <   >   P   Y   F   G   C   R   L   ?   +    E      7   8   9   -
       '   ,   .   p   y   f   g   c   r   l   /   =    n
                                                        t
  Ctrl   A   O   E   U   I   D   H   T   N   S  ___     e      4   5   6
         a   o   e   u   i   d   h   t   n   s   -      r

      Shf  :   Q   J   K   X   B   M   W   V   Z  Shf          1   2   3   +
           ;   q   j   k   x   b   m   w   v   z

   Alt                    Space                  Cpl           Ins    Del

This layout moves the funtion keys to the left. It has a large enter and shift key, though the backspace key is small.

Omnikey Ultra ANSI layout - no software required

Esc   !   @   #   $   %   ^   @   *   (   )   {   }    Bsp
      1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   0   [   ]

   Tab  "   <   >   P   Y   F   G   C   R   L   ?   +    E
        '   ,   .   p   y   f   g   c   r   l   /   =    n
                                                         t
 Ctrl   A   O   E   U   I   D   H   T   N   S  ___       e
        a   o   e   u   i   d   h   t   n   s   -        r

      Shf  :   Q   J   K   X   B   M   W   V   Z  Shf    *
           ;   q   j   k   x   b   m   w   v   z

          ~                                        |
   Alt    `   Capslock         Space         Ctrl  \   Alt

You can configure this further, swapping Ctrl ard Capslock, \ and *. This layout has a huge backspace and enter key. This keyboard also has function keys down the left and across the top

Omnikey Ultra Original layout - no software required

Esc   {   &   %   #   !   (   )   @   $   ^   *   }    Bsp
      [   7   5   3   1   9   0   2   4   6   8   ]

   Tab  "   <   >   P   Y   F   G   C   R   L   ?   +    E
        '   ,   .   p   y   f   g   c   r   l   /   =    n
                                                         t
 Ctrl   A   O   E   U   I   D   H   T   N   S  ___       e
        a   o   e   u   i   d   h   t   n   s   -        r

      Shf  :   Q   J   K   X   B   M   W   V   Z  Shf    *
           ;   q   j   k   x   b   m   w   v   z

          ~                                        |
   Alt    `   Capslock         Space         Ctrl  \   Alt

This layout further optimizes the punctuation, placing the common parentheses, ! and @ near the centre. You can configure this further, swapping Ctrl ard Capslock, \ and *. This layout has a huge backspace and enter key. It has function keys on the left and along the top.

Omnikey Ultra left-handed layout - no software required

Esc   {   }   ?   P   F   M   L   J   $   #   @   !    Bsp
      [   ]   /   p   f   m   l   j   4   3   2   1

   Tab  :   Q   B   Y   U   R   S   O   >   ^   %   +    E
        ;   q   b   y   u   r   s   o   .   6   5   =    n
                                                         t
 Ctrl  ---  K   C   D   T   H   E   A   Z   *   &        e
        -   k   c   d   t   h   e   a   z   8   7        r

      Shf  "   X   G   V   W   N   I   <   )   (  Shf    *
           '   x   g   v   w   n   i   ,   0   9

          ~                                        |
   Alt    `   Capslock         Space         Ctrl  \   Alt

This layout is for people who are missing a right hand, or who otherwise have the right hand occupied as they type. You can configure this further, swapping Ctrl ard Capslock, \ and *. This layout has a huge backspace and enter key. It has function keys on the left and along the top.

Omnikey Ultra right-handed layout - no software required

Esc   !   @   #   $   J   L   M   F   P   ?   {   }    Bsp
      1   2   3   4   j   l   m   f   p   /   [   ]

   Tab  %   ^   Q   >   O   R   S   U   Y   B   :   +    E
        5   6   q   .   o   r   s   u   y   b   ;   =    n
                                                         t
 Ctrl   &   *   Z   A   E   H   T   D   C   K  ___       e
        7   8   z   a   e   h   t   d   c   k   -

      Shf  (   )   X   <   I   N   W   V   G   "  Shf    *
           9   0   x   ,   i   n   w   v   g   '

          ~                                        |
   Alt    `   Capslock         Space         Ctrl  \   Alt

This layout is for people who are missing a left hand, or who otherwise have the left hand occupied as they type. (Those skilled with this layout may improve their popularity in sex chat rooms.) You can configure this further, swapping Ctrl and Capslock, \ and *. This layout has a huge backspace and enter key. It has function keys on the left and along the top.

DSK Dvorak fingering

Top left of keyboard is pushed slightly away from you.

Keyboard is offset slightly to the left of the centre of your body.

Your arms should be almost level tilting up slightly to reach the keyboard.

Left index finger handles 4 5 6 p y u i k x
Left middle finger handles 3 . e j
Left ring finger handles 2 , o q
Left baby finger handles Esc 1 tab ' ctrl a ` ; and shift.

Right index finger handles 6 7 f g d h b m
Right middle finger handles 8 c t w
Right ring finger handles 9 r n v
Right baby finger handles 0 \ = bs l / ] s - [ Enter z and shift

Generally, a finger handles keys on a back-slanting row. The exception is 6 which is sometimes handled by the left index finger.

Hunt and Peck

DSK is easier for a hunt and peck typist because the layout is more logical. The layout naturally leads you into touch typing. As long as you have physically rearranged the keycaps, it is great for giving to people who cannot type.

My apprentices often hunt and peck on my machine. I'm surprised how quick they are.

You make different typos on DSK, which may puzzle people reading your text, e.g. that and than, by and my, is and in reversed.

How To Get DSK

Windows supports DSK by selecting the layout in the Control Panel Keyboard. Unfortunately the layout reverts to QWERTY when you drop into a DOS box. For the DOS box you need some DOS-based keyboard rempapping software.

Prokey and Superkey both let you design your own keyboard layouts. DOS 3.3 has a program called KeyBdDv to set up your keyboard as DSK. Hitting Control-Alt-F1 will turn it back to QWERTY.

I wrote a free program called DVORAK.COM. It is a microscopic TSR that will remap your keyboard to Dvorak. (Incidentally, by rearranging some of the tables in the MASM source code, you can get it to make any layout changes you want to your keyboard -- even those having nothing to do with Dvorak.)

DVORAK.COM can also be used for fine tuning a keyboard layout -- even QWERTY, to swap a few keys around. You can download it complete with source.

It is designed for AT and later computers, but might work on some XTs if you loaded the DOS KEYB command first:

C:\DOS\KeyB.Com us,,C:\dos\keyboard.sys

If you want to concoct your own more complex keyboard with accented keys, dead keys, Alt-Gr etc, use ESPAN.COM as a model. It is a Spanish QWERTY keyboard driver. You can download it complete with source.

You can rearrange keycaps on an IBM keyboard but not most other brands. Just pop them off with a screwdriver and snap them back on in their new position, being careful to center the little springs. On the IBM keyboard almost all keycaps are shaped identically so you have complete freedom to rearrange them. On most other keyboards, the the keys are sculpted so that each row has a different shape.

Note that moving the keycaps has no effect on the codes generated by your keyboard. You still need software to logically rearrange the keys.

Do not pull of the space bar, or you will never get it back on properly.

Similarly never open up the back of an IBM brand keyboard. You will have a room full of little springs and Hall effect flapper plates. Only nuns who work for Mother Theresa have sufficient grace to put one back together.

You can also buy a DSK keyboard with both the keycaps and keyboard electronics rearranged so that you don't need any DSK software. This approach is nice if you work a lot with virgin machines and have to format hard disks frequently. DSK keyboards work even before you have the machine compos mentis enough to run your DSK software, eg. when changing CMOS settings.

Keytronic sells a Dvorak conversion kit on special order.

The Northgate Omnikey Ultra comes standard with switches to select one of four Dvorak layouts in addition to QWERTY. The optional matching keycaps cost about $30 extra. You can get ANSI, or the original with the 75319 02468 ordering, or the left hard only, or right hand only variants. Unfortunately Northgate went bankrupt and the keyboards are no longer manufacutered. You might find one in old stock at some retailer or at a swap meet. These keyboards are much more rugged than most other brands.

The Northgate 102 keyboard has only two-handed ANSI Dvorak, with no function keys across the top. This is what I use now, that my Omnikey Ultra passed on after many years of hard pounding.

Prelco also sells two Dvorak keyboards US $139 retail for the 101-key model and $109 for the 84-key model plus $6 shipping and handling. These are modified Honeywell keyboards. They have a very soft touch. They are quieter than the Ultrakeys, but they do not give as much feedback as I'd like.

Prelco
14202 Galy Street
Tustin, CA 92680
(714) 544-3041

Finding Out More

There is a Dvorak cult magazine called something like Quick Strokes that you can find in your local library. It is full of "I converted to DSK and now I am in permanent bliss" stories. I tease. It really contains tips on how to get DSK on all sorts of typing equipment. For MS-DOS this is no problem. It also contains stories about how various businesses converted and how much it cost and what the dollar benefits were.

Freelance Communications has published a book on Dvorak keyboards called "The Dvorak Keyboard". They also put out a quarterly called "Dvorak Developments".

Freelance Communications
P.O. Box 1895
Upland, CA
91785

You can also get materials from:
Steve Ingram
Dvorak International
P.O. Box 44
Poultney VT
USA 05764-0044
(802) 287-2343
email: DvorakInt@aol.com.
web site: http://www.dvorakint.org.

The Brooks web site: http://www.ccsi.com/~mbrooks/dvorak/ is the most comprehensive and has links to dozens of others.

You can look up "DSK Dvorak + keyboard" in any of the Internet search engines.

The Bottom Line

There really isn't anything more you have to know about DSK than what I have told you. You simply have to decide. Is the pain of conversion worth it? Do you want everyone thinking you are weird because your keyboard looks funny? Do you have enough persistence to see it through? Are you already a great QWERTY typist so that improving your skill is not necessary? Do you spend enough time at a keyboard each day to bother with such an investment of effort? Can you afford to temporarily slow your typing speed? Is typing on a QWERTY keyboard giving you repetitive stress pain or injuries?

The one big question you want to know is, how much faster will you be? The problem is this thing called the bell shaped curve. Some people gain a lot, others a little. The only way to find out where you personally are on the curve is to do it.


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