yOn Tue, 11 Feb 2003, Paul Makepeace wrote:
> I personally know several Dvorak typists and they're all without fail
> blindingly fast typists (>90wpm) and crucially their accuracy is good.
Donald Norman's _Psychology of Everyday Things_ has a section on the whole
tired qwerty / dvorak debate, basically saying that the supposed benefits
of the Dvorak layout -- and the supposed weaknesses of qwerty -- are
mostly speculative, and there really hasn't been much persuasive evidence
one way or the other.
In his tests, as I recall, seasoned qwerty users took a while to readjust
to Dvorak, and after relearning how to type again their speed & comfort
weren't significantly better than they had been before -- to the point
that any marginal gains they saw -- if any at all -- were pretty much
offset by the chore of having to learn how to type all over again.
There may be better research out there, but this is one of the more
concrete examples I'm aware of.
--
Chris Devers [EMAIL PROTECTED]
guru, n. [Origin: Hinduism, "spiritual guide."]
(UNIX) The local Shiva who, being one Vedic man page ahead of the site,
can create and destroy as the whim dictates. See also METHODOLOGY;
SYSADMIN.
-- from _The Computer Contradictionary_, Stan Kelly-Bootle, 1995
