I would like to stress three things to the OP that I think are very important:
- Learn how to touch type before learning any alternative layout.
- Learn Colemak, not Dvorak
- Do not rearrange your keyboard
I think it's very important to learn how to touch type before learning any alternative layout. Learn to type the correct letters (QWERTY) using the correct fingers using a finger map.
For all we know, this may solve your comfort issues alone. If you are not satisfied, your time is not wasted, knowing how to touch type on QWERTY will save you the time of learning finger positions and keys when learning an alternative layout. Also, it's unrealistic to use an alternative layout all the time -- especially Dvorak. There are times when you will need to use hotkeys made with QWERTY in mind, and you will not always have access to your alternative layout.
Also, learn Colemak, not Dvorak. I'm not going to restate all of my arguments here, but they are all laid out in
my review. You do bring up a good point by stating that Colemak is not always available, but if you are able to run an executable on a Windows machine, you can use
Colemak Portable. There are also many options for
Macs, and of course, Linux has Colemak built-in.
Lastly, as I said earlier in this thread, rearranging your keyboard is a bad idea. Your F and J need to be in the correct spots to help you find home row and you should not be looking at your keyboard anyway. If you need to look at the layout, bring up an image on your screen or use a printout and post it near your monitor. You should be translating position into finger-movement. If you look down, you will translate the key's location by sight into a press, which will not help you learn to type.