Thursday, September 18, 2008

Typing

Freddie commented on her blog:
I'll bet it's especially difficult using Dvorak after a break.


Well, it is and it isn't. I hadn't really got the hang of Dvorak anyway but now I've completely lost all my ability with QWERTY so I'm stuck with it. I can type fairly accurately if I keep my eyes closed but that's not really practical so I'm using the backspace key a lot.

I think I'll get the hang of it eventually but I did think I'd be able to go back at any time. Now I know it's not that simple. I wonder if this was a really bad idea.

13 COMMENTS:

Jessi said...

I think it's cool that you're still plugging away at trying it. :D

Robin S. said...

Hey- at least you're willing to give it a shot, girl.

fairyhedgehog said...

Thanks, Jessi. I feel like I'm stuck with it now.

Robin: Thanks for the support.

Stacy said...

Keep trying, kiddo. If you type, it will come.

Heh. Bad movie reference, there.

writtenwyrdd said...

I've never tried qwerty but I used to type over 100wpm so I bet it would screw me up to try and learn a new keyboard. If you go slow and steady, your muscle memory will improve and so will your typing.

fairyhedgehog said...

Freddie - Now I'm desperately trying to place the movie reference.

Writtenwyrdd - did you start by learning Dvorak then?

writtenwyrdd said...

Maybe I've got the types mixed up. Isn't Qwerty the European keyboard and Dvorak the US one? I learned the US version, at any rate. Switching now would play merry hell with my writing!

But by the time I graduated university as an English major, I'd typed so much I was already 70wpm. Then a few years as a secretary/admin assistant where I typed a lot.

fairyhedgehog said...

I thought that most US keyboards were a version of QWERTY too but I may be wrong. You can see the two keyboards side by side here: http://www.typocheck.co.uk/dvorak/

fairyhedgehog said...

Oh, and switching has played merry hell with my writing. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Jessi said...

Oh, we definitely use QWERTY. There may be some individuals who decide to veer off the path and experiment with Dvorak or other funky alternatives, but every standard keyboard we have is QWERTY and we're taught it in school, etc. I'd never even heard of Dvorak before you mentioned it, although I knew there were a few alternate keyboard switches that people had tried.

fairyhedgehog said...

Hi Jessi! Thanks for stopping by.

writtenwyrdd said...

I heard of Dvorak because Piers Anthony had a long epistle at the back of one of his novels about his special word processing program and the more efficient keyboard he uses, which I thought was Dvorak. Also he had a bunch of interesting history re keyboards and typewriters.

fairyhedgehog said...

I didn't know that, ww.

If you're already typing at 70+wpm then I'd have thought there'd be no mileage in changing to Dvorak.

I'm sure I saw somewhere that there's a link between learning Esperanto and learning Dvorak. I think the reasoning was that both were done by people who go against the flow. (I certainly feel as if I'm doing that.

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