Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!cornell!batcomputer!itsgw!steinmetz!uunet!pdn!colin
From: colin@pdn.UUCP (Colin Kendall)
Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng
Subject: A Dvorak keyboard experiment
Keywords: Dvorak thumbs keyboard
Message-ID: <3535@pdn.UUCP>
Date: 21 Jun 88 09:43:48 GMT
Organization: Paradyne Corporation, Largo, Florida
Lines: 45

Some time ago I tried to generate enthusiasm for the use of the Dvorak
keyboard among the members of my project team. A major objection, raised by 
several members, was that the project would be doomed to failure without total 
immersion; i.e., unless all keyboards in the area could be converted.

Due to my experience in rapidly switching among various computers, operating
systems, editors, etc., I felt that having one more variable in the
environment would not be an insurmountable problem, and so I
pig-headedly plunged ahead, setting things up so I could use Dvorak
while in Smalltalk, and QWERTY elsewhere.  

My experience was that the "muscular memory" used in typing operates
at some deeper or more primitive level than the normal memory used
in determining which command to use to copy a file, etc.
It seems that when I want to type an 's', the events which cause
the 's' to be struck occur almost without thinking, or certainly
without any conscious attempt at recall. And it is almost
impossible to reprogram this except over a long period.
If I typed exclusively in Dvorak for an hour, I rapidly got
faster and more confident, and made fewer errors; but if I then
switched back to QWERTY, I was slower than a turtle; and vice versa.

I estimate that before I started the experiment, I could type about
50 wpm. After a month of switching back and forth, I could type about
15 wpm in Dvorak, and only 30 wpm in QWERTY! 

I have therefore given up on Dvorak for now; I would certainly like
to return to it, but only with total immersion.

An interesting side effect is that the experiment seems to have
adversely affected my ability to play the piano.

The experience has deepened my respect for muscular memory, and increased 
my desire to try to incorporate "pie menus" into the product we are
developing.  (With pie menus, the item chosen depends on the direction in 
which the cursor is moved from some central point. Studies have shown that
after a little practice, users of these menus no longer need to
look at the screen while making menu selections, even complicated
cascades of selections!) 

-- 
Colin Kendall				Paradyne Corporation
{gatech,akgua}!usfvax2!pdn!colin	Mail stop LF-207
Phone: (813) 530-8697			8550 Ulmerton Road, PO Box 2826
					Largo, FL  33294-2826