Introducing the Dvorak Keyboard

This site offers downloads and information to help you start using the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard.

The Dvorak keyboard layout is a control panel option on almost every current computer. It is a vastly more comfortable and efficient alternative to the standard "QWERTY" pattern, which was designed in the 1800s with no effective attempt at typing comfort.

Most accomplished QWERTY typists don't want to retrain on a new keyboard layout. That's OK! The real tragedy is kids and new typists who could easily benefit from the Dvorak layout, but learn QWERTY anyway. The only possible excuse for this is that some schools and workplaces make it hard to use Dvorak. It is also a worry that some new technologies might not include Dvorak as an option. To address these worries, this site has begun to focus on ways to Promote Dvorak Availability.

• Show me the layout!
• The Pros and Cons of Dvorak
• Is Dvorak an Urban Legend?
• How to:
  Switch Your Computer to Dvorak (FREE for most systems!)
  Relabel or Rearrange Your Keycaps
  Get a Hard-Wired Dvorak Keyboard
  Learn to Type Dvorak (Tips & Tutors)
  Touch-type with One Hand!
  
• Non-English "Dvorak" Efforts
• Dvorak Comments and History
• Site Change History (update 21 July 2000)

If you have any comments or suggestions for this page, please send E-mail. Thanks!

Links to Other Sites

Thanks to all the folks out there who are spreading the word about Dvorak. Here are links to some of them:

• ABCD: A Basic Course in Dvorak by Dan Wood (typing tutor)
• The Alt-Keyboards Mailing List
• The Curse of QWERTY by Jared Diamond (Discover Magazine, April 1997)
• Dvorak History by John W. Shipman
• Dvorak International: Striking Home newsletter and other information
• Dvorak International's FAQ (HTML by Dylan James McNamee)
• The Dvorak Keyboard by Jeff Bigler
• The Dvorak Keyboard (book) by R. C. Cassingham
• The Dvorak Keyboard by Dylan James McNamee
• The Dvorak Keyboard by Marcos Huerta
• Dvorak Keyboard by Sander Rubin
• Dvorak Keyboard Observations - The Narrative by Bob Ranger
• Dvorak Simplified Keyboard by William Grassie
• Greg Schussman's Dvorak Keyboard Layout Page
• Norske Dvorak (Norwegian "Dvorak" layout for Windows and Linux.)
• Roffes Norske Dvorak-side (Roffe's Norwegian "Dvorak" layout.)
• Janko's Keyboard Generator (Roll your own Windows 95/98 layout.)
• Japanese "Dvorak" (Now linked on my non-English "Dvorak" page.)
• Joe Strout's Dvorak Page (has a Mac typing tutor)
• Typewriting Behavior (book) by August Dvorak et. al. (available from R. C. Cassingham)
• Typing injury FAQ: Alternative Keyboards
• Webopaedia Definition and Links: Dvorak Keyboard
• More to come!

For those interested, I've written a mini-book-review about The Dvorak Keyboard and Typewriting Behavior.

See my Home Page Links for topics not related to Dvorak or typing.

Disclaimer: This site contains the best information I can find, but I am not a professional Dvorak expert. Some inaccuracies and omissions are likely. I will fix these as I discover them and as time permits. I have no financial interest in any Dvorak-related products or services.