Comment Provide a standard keyboard switching method (Score 1) 732
A possible solution to getting more people to adopt Dvorak is to make a standard key sequence to enables switching between the two layouts.
I was thinking about this when I learned to type on a Thai keyboard layout recently. There are two standards and they are just like Dvorak and Qwerty. You can guess which one is widely used. But even for a foreigner learning to type, it is better to learn the inferior standard layout in case one has to use a computer in the country.
The absurdity here is that everyone using a Thai keyboard can switch to the English Qwerty layout for typing in English, but there's no standard to switch between the two Thai layouts.
Contrast this with Japanese. There is a special faster layout that can be used for typing one kana at a time with symbols on each key, including the numbers. Most people prefer to type using Roman letters, which is slower. However there's no downside to learning the faster method, because all Japanese computers have standard keys to switch between the input methods.
If Dvorak/Qwerty switching worked in a similar standard way on all computers, it would solve the problem of using other people's computers and making learning Dvorak worthwhile.
I was thinking about this when I learned to type on a Thai keyboard layout recently. There are two standards and they are just like Dvorak and Qwerty. You can guess which one is widely used. But even for a foreigner learning to type, it is better to learn the inferior standard layout in case one has to use a computer in the country.
The absurdity here is that everyone using a Thai keyboard can switch to the English Qwerty layout for typing in English, but there's no standard to switch between the two Thai layouts.
Contrast this with Japanese. There is a special faster layout that can be used for typing one kana at a time with symbols on each key, including the numbers. Most people prefer to type using Roman letters, which is slower. However there's no downside to learning the faster method, because all Japanese computers have standard keys to switch between the input methods.
If Dvorak/Qwerty switching worked in a similar standard way on all computers, it would solve the problem of using other people's computers and making learning Dvorak worthwhile.
