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