Dvorak: been using it for a few years. i switched to it cold turkey. one thing that can screw you up is touching qwerty after switching, something you don't really need to do. dvorak is implemented as a language and comes standard in most OS's, so the excuse that "it will be difficult when using someone else's computer" is a poor one. some people can probably learn to use both layouts without too much trouble... i'm not one of those people, and i would advise against trying to use both, as learning dvorak will be much more difficult
qwerty is simply atrocious. the semicolon key says it all. who the fuck puts a semicolon key on the home row? i've heard various explanations for the retarded layout but i think it's just retardation. even the story of how it was to balance the hammers for typewriters to minimize collision seems retarded since the manufacturers could have switched around the letters on the hammers themselves
something that people miss is that dvorak is about comfort, not speed. sure, someone who is good at typing will probably be substantially faster on dvorak then on qwerty, but for me at least it's all about comfort. though i do type quite a bit faster than i did on qwerty
re: Vi, it wasn't hard switching at all. one thing i learned to do was use 'ce' (replace to end of word) rather than 'cw' (replace word) since c and w are on the same finger in dvorak
specifically i use programmer dvorak http://www.kaufmann.no/roland/dvorak/ which leaves the basic dvorak alphabet unchanged but switches around the symbols. instead of `1234567890-= the top row is $&[{}(=* )+]!#. the numbers are shifted
i took things a step further and started using a program called AutoHotkey: http://www.autohotkey.com/ i have LAlt + C mapped to Esc, LAlt + H to Backspace, LAlt + T to Enter, Caps and Enter to Ctrl, and RAlt to Caps. these are global, not just for Vim
Ergonomic Keyboard: i use a microsoft ergonomic:
http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Natural-Ergo-Keyboard-4000/d...
i'm surprised these aren't much more popular. it's probably because of patents or something, or people don't realize how much better they are. they are as much an improvement over regular keyboards as dvorak is over qwerty. dvorak + ergonomic keyboard will get you FAR in terms of comfort
i also use a wacom tablet instead of a mouse. i've never had any wrist pain or anything with this setup. i'm anal about comfort for the same reason i use Vim rather than a silly IDE. i figure if i'm going to be typing and using a computer so much, generally hours a day for the rest of my life, then the tools i use are extremely important and it's worth it to invest in the best ones
Supposedly you're not supposed to switch to dvorak too quickly, like within a 48 hour period like I did. It kind of scrambles your brain a bit, and I lost my ability to qwerty for a moment there. With time I started typing quicker in both dvorak, and qwerty again.
Can you talk a bit more about using the tablet as a mouse? I have a multi-monitor set up now and just noticed theres a spot on my desk for a tablet. I suppose it would have to be put into relative mode, not absolute.
when i used two monitors (my expensive graphics card died T_T) i kept absolute positioning, which is one of the things i like about tablets. you don't need to know where the cursor is, you just move the pen where you want the cursor to be and it's there, so it's more direct than a mouse. it also feels more 'connective' in general. when using scrollbars for example it feels like you're "grabbing" them rather than just interacting with them. or at least it does to me
with the wacom software you can map multiple monitors to different sections of the tablet, so i mapped a large portion of the tablet to my work monitor and a smaller portion to the second. something like:
actually i don't remember if i used the wacom software to map or if it was something in the desktop settings. in any case it's possible. and of course, relative positioning works fine as well
i'm sure everyone is intimately familiar with the wrist pain from mice usage. it doesn't happen with pens because your wrists aren't contorted like they are with mice. pens are more flexible since the only thing that matters is where the point is, not where the whole unit is. the hand/arm/wrist posture when using a pen is more natural than the posture you have to assume when using a mouse (notice you have to actually twist your arm thingie to use a mouse)
yep. when i used mice i only used a particular microsoft model
if you do decide to try the unshifted symbol layout, be careful with desires to modify it. for example, in standard layouts the ( and ) keys are together, so when typing a function call it's sort of a habit to hit shift and quickly tap them:
fncall()
it's nice and quick to type, so when looking at the programmer dvorak layout you might be tempted to rearrange them just a little bit so that you can keep doing that. the issue is that the goal of dvorak is comfort over a statistical amount of typing, and by making a modification like that you may be sacrificing overall comfort for a tiny burst potential
i mention this because i've seen people make changes like that. the layout is very well-designed. caps lock for example shifts the numbers so it's easier to type long numbers, and it also locks the - into a _, which is desirable when typing constants (MY_CONSTANT)
i actually don't use the layout file on that page because it seems to be designed for (human) languages with many characters, so it has some dead keys and was making some keys such as ` hard to type. i just redid the layout with MS Keyboard Layout Creator http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=8BE...
qwerty is simply atrocious. the semicolon key says it all. who the fuck puts a semicolon key on the home row? i've heard various explanations for the retarded layout but i think it's just retardation. even the story of how it was to balance the hammers for typewriters to minimize collision seems retarded since the manufacturers could have switched around the letters on the hammers themselves
something that people miss is that dvorak is about comfort, not speed. sure, someone who is good at typing will probably be substantially faster on dvorak then on qwerty, but for me at least it's all about comfort. though i do type quite a bit faster than i did on qwerty
re: Vi, it wasn't hard switching at all. one thing i learned to do was use 'ce' (replace to end of word) rather than 'cw' (replace word) since c and w are on the same finger in dvorak
specifically i use programmer dvorak http://www.kaufmann.no/roland/dvorak/ which leaves the basic dvorak alphabet unchanged but switches around the symbols. instead of `1234567890-= the top row is $&[{}(=* )+]!#. the numbers are shifted
i took things a step further and started using a program called AutoHotkey: http://www.autohotkey.com/ i have LAlt + C mapped to Esc, LAlt + H to Backspace, LAlt + T to Enter, Caps and Enter to Ctrl, and RAlt to Caps. these are global, not just for Vim
Ergonomic Keyboard: i use a microsoft ergonomic: http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Natural-Ergo-Keyboard-4000/d... i'm surprised these aren't much more popular. it's probably because of patents or something, or people don't realize how much better they are. they are as much an improvement over regular keyboards as dvorak is over qwerty. dvorak + ergonomic keyboard will get you FAR in terms of comfort
i also use a wacom tablet instead of a mouse. i've never had any wrist pain or anything with this setup. i'm anal about comfort for the same reason i use Vim rather than a silly IDE. i figure if i'm going to be typing and using a computer so much, generally hours a day for the rest of my life, then the tools i use are extremely important and it's worth it to invest in the best ones