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Old 04-17-2002, 09:44 AM   #5
Xantar
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Quote:
Originally posted by GameMaster
Looks cool Xantar. But my muscle memory has already been trained perfectly to the QWERTY keyboard.
So is mine. That's why it took me so long to type that message on a Dvorak keyboard. I'm getting better at it, though.

You don't have to buy a new keyboard to type Dvorak. Since you're a Mac user, you can just do what I did: go to Control Panels and look under Keyboard. OS 9 has a bunch of preset key mappings including Swiss, French, UK etc. Put a check mark next to one of the Dvorak mappings (one is plain old Dvorak and the other switches back to QWERTY when you push command so that when quitting a program, you still push where Q would be on a normal keyboard). Then click on additional options and put a check mark in the second box. This will let you switch between the Dvorak and QWERTY settings by simply pushing option + command + spacebar.

Then, print out a picture of the Dvorak mapping (the picture I posted here should work) and use it while typing to figure out where all the letters are. I suppose it only works if you touch type, but I can.

By the way, apparently people skilled with the Dvorak mapping can switch between the two keyboard mappings at will. So even if your muscle memory is perfectly attuned to the QWERTY mapping, you can still pick up the Dvorak mapping with no consequence. You'll just have to practice for a while to get the hang of it. I still think it's worthwhile just as a security device—nobody's going to be able to type in my password at my computer even if they know what it is.

sdtPikachu: no, I'm not a subscriber to This Is True. I found the website where that picture is from through a Google search. Does a subscription cost money?
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