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geekhack Community => Keyboard Keycaps => Topic started by: Pdub on Fri, 17 July 2015, 12:52:38
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I would really like to change my keyboard from qwerty to Dvorak. I don't know if I should get key blanks or flat keys. It is a difficult decision I have because it pretty much doesn't allow for any awesome keysets, or very few. Plus I would have to do it to two keyboards (work and home) What are your thoughts?
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Flat (ish) keys. But I can't really stand blanks, so your mileage may vary.
I just move the keys around and deal with the lumpiness. Unless you've got SA profile caps it's not that bad. But Cherry profile are so low anyway that I barely notice. Except for the SA 1.5 keys on the sides that trap my fingers. But that's lumpier than you'd normally have to deal with.
Initially, when I taught myself dvorak, I didn't move anything. Again, wrong legends that are consistent are better than no legends. So I printed out a .jpeg of the layout and set it next to my monitor, and stared at that (instead of my keycaps) to type things.
Been a couple of decades now, and I'm pretty pleased that I made the switch.
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You don't really need to switch out your caps to switch to dvorak. I've made the switch to colemak not too long ago and still have qwerty keys, although I do have a couple sets ordered that will allow me to switch. I was decently fast but couldn't properly touch type so I decided to learn while I did the switch. It's not really a big deal what they have on them.
DSA and single profile SA sets let you switch keys around freely and some of the bigger sets come with a dvorak/colemak addon pack. It will limit your options somewhat, but there are choices.
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I'm learning Colemak right now and it's pretty fun. I tried learning Dvorak and I got to the point where I memorized where all the keys were but I wasn't proficient yet. Around that time I learned about Colemak and really enjoy learning it. All the function keys like Ctrl+C or Ctrl+V stay the same unlike Dvorak.
Regarding the layout I've found it's best to learn without moving the keys so that you don't rely on sight to type but you become familiar with the key placement. Also if you keep the default QWERTY placement then you can keep all your cool keysets.
if you're just beginning to learn I recommend the website for Dvorak
http://learn.dvorak.nl/
I also recommend this website for learning anything else. I'm using this for Colemak.
http://www.keybr.com/#!game
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I've been using dvorak for almost a year. If you learn to touch type (Which you should :p) there is no need for a dvorak keyset. Also it's funny to watch people try to type when the caps are qwerty but the board is dvorak.
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I've been using Dvorak for about six years now. My keycaps have been mostly blank for the last four years. Recently, I started using a Poker II and I leave the keycaps in QWERTY because I never look at them anyway.
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I ordered blank keycaps when I changed to DVORAK in an effort to not confuse my brain, but I just order DVORAK set as I think it'll look nicer and help further engrain the key placement even though I'm pretty fast on DVORAK now.
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I ended up buying DSA blanks at first, then got a Dvorak Deep Space set. I had another board that I just left in Qwerty
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Another vote from me for leaving the keys at Qwerty. There is NO point in learning Dvorak by looking at the keys, and if you're not looking, then the labels don't matter.
When the occasion presents itself to use an accurately-labeled Dvorak board, I honestly tend to get a little confused after being used to looking at the wrong labels for so long.
That being said, I'm currently anxiously awaiting SA Retro, Modern Selectric, and Jukebox, all of which will be arriving with Dvorak kits. In the meantime, here's Granite:
(http://i.imgur.com/0gJGJXV.jpg)