Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2000 21:49:59 -0500 From: Jon Hamilton <hamilton@pobox.com> To: Jason Evans <jasone@canonware.com> Cc: j mckitrick <jcm@FreeBSD-uk.eu.org>, chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: emacs on a laptop Message-ID: <20000819024959.A27E81E2@woodstock.monkey.net> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 18 Aug 2000 17:32:37 PDT." <20000818173237.J14875@blitz.canonware.com>
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In message <20000818173237.J14875@blitz.canonware.com>, Jason Evans wrote: } On Sat, Aug 19, 2000 at 01:11:47AM +0100, j mckitrick wrote: } > On Fri, Aug 18, 2000 at 03:33:14PM -0700, Jason Evans wrote: } > | > } > | > here is my new plan: } > | > dvorak layout } > | > change caps lock to ctrl } > | } > | Plan to not be able to type well for at least a month. Plan to not gain } > | full typing speed for at least several months. } > } > is it worth it? } } In my opinion, it wasn't quite worth it, though it's definitely not worth } switching back at this point (I've been using dvorak for almost two years } now). There are rewards to switching, but they probably don't justify the } huge effort involved. } } It took about a year before I could clearly type at least as well in all } cases (coding, copying, composing email, etc.). I could not have done the } transition at all if it hadn't been for a lull at the end of one job (I } started the switch when I gave two weeks notice =) ). There is a period of } time when it is very difficult to type at all, even on a qwerty keyboard. } I can no longer type with any speed on qwerty. This was the killer for me, when I switched for a couple of months. I got to about the same speed using dvorak in that time (~75WPM) as I typed under QWERTY before the switch, but when I had to go help someone on their workstation using QWERTY it was just excruciating. } On the up side, I feel less hand fatigue from typing, and my error rate is } much lower than it ever was on qwerty. My error rate is lower mainly } because a number of hard-wired problems I had on qwerty didn't transfer to } dvorak (for example mixing up left/right hand letters (e/i, q/p)). } Unfortunately, I didn't do a timed typing test before switching, but I'm } pretty sure I can type faster now (on the order of 10-15% faster). Interesting. I never noticed any perceptible difference in hand fatigue, but it rarely bothers me using a QWERTY layout, either. -- Jon Hamilton hamilton@pobox.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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