I have learned Dvorak by taking a week off during the summer (I was a student back then, great for doing things like that) and spending an hour or two each day through a touch typing course. In my case, I used gtypist, because I'm a GNU/Linux guy, but I think there are better ones out there.
My two reasons for learning dvorak was my rather poor touch typing form on QWERTY and the arguably superior layout for general English text.
Dvorak however is not a panacea -- while I can type english text rather well, I'm still very poor with my right pinky which has an immense amount of work if I do programming; all of the following characters
-=/+?[]{}_
should be handled by a right pinky in dvorak layout. []{} are especially far away for me on almost any keyboard and I still fail to type them efficiently.
Also note that many people argue that the ergonomic advantages of Dvorak are purely subjective and unverified. Learning to touch type on QWERTY properly might be a good subtitute for learning Dvorak.
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My personal tip is not to rush any touch typing training and when you feel your brain struggle (it also caused me a headache the first day) just take a break. Also the retraining of the brain produced some very vivid dreams in the first two nights.
Thanks for the tips. I know the german/english (uk) layouts, but want to really give Dvorak a go.
I'll give the gtypist a go. If it's something I can consistently work at I'm pretty happy with doing and committing to this daily. Spent last two weeks learning to use emacs and emacs lisp.
I made the mistake of trying to learn Dvorak part-time while typing Qwerty during daytime. Took me over 2 months to switch over. I would recommend taking a week when you dont have to work and making a abrupt change. It will require a lot of will power, because you will feel awful typing at like 5wpm but in the long run it might be the fastest way.
I will also recommend using dvorak label on the keyboard(you will get it for 5 dollars). It helps you type with one hand(I tend to eat while watching something on my PC).
I agree with the other comments, the special symbol will be a problem, but I doubled my speed for english prose and I feel a marked decrease in finger fatigue especially when typing at higher speeds.
My two reasons for learning dvorak was my rather poor touch typing form on QWERTY and the arguably superior layout for general English text.
Dvorak however is not a panacea -- while I can type english text rather well, I'm still very poor with my right pinky which has an immense amount of work if I do programming; all of the following characters
-=/+?[]{}_
should be handled by a right pinky in dvorak layout. []{} are especially far away for me on almost any keyboard and I still fail to type them efficiently.
Also note that many people argue that the ergonomic advantages of Dvorak are purely subjective and unverified. Learning to touch type on QWERTY properly might be a good subtitute for learning Dvorak.
---
My personal tip is not to rush any touch typing training and when you feel your brain struggle (it also caused me a headache the first day) just take a break. Also the retraining of the brain produced some very vivid dreams in the first two nights.