Whats wrong with the Dvorak layout?
• The main problem with Dvorak is that it’s too difficult and frustrating to learn for existing QWERTY typists because it’s so different from QWERTY. Colemak has been designed to be easy to learn. • Placing ‘L’ on the QWERTY ‘P’ position causes excessive strain on the right pinky. Colemak doesn’t place frequent letters where the pinkies stretch. • ‘F’ is on the QWERTY ‘Y’ position which is a difficult stretch on normal keyboards. • ‘I’ is very frequent but isn’t on the home position. • ‘R’ is very frequent but isn’t on the home row. • It is significantly lopsided so that the right hand does too much work. • It’s not comfortable to use Ctrl-Z/X/C/V shortcuts with the left hand while holding the mouse with the right hand. Colemak conserves those shortcuts in their QWERTY positions. • Even though the design principles are sound, the implementation isn’t optimal because it was designed without the aid of computers. • ‘L’ and ‘S’ form a frequent same-finger digraph on the right pinky. Same-
