rahmu wroteWhat are the other pitfalls/downsides/...?
Everyone else has qwerty.
I'm pretty bad at typing in qwerty now, so using other computers can be a bit annoying. Generally this isn't a huge problem. If I'm doing something at all serious it doesn't take long for me to enable Dvorak and just use that till I'm done, but it's annoying none the less. I have combated this a bit by just changing my typing style. Instead of being in proper typing position I just go to more of a (ridiculous looking) hunt-and-peck style. I guess it depends a lot on how often you use computers that are not your own, and what you do on them. Generally if I'm on another computer I'm troubleshooting/fixing something and it doesn't require a ton of typing anyhow. There is also a website that converts qwerty to Dvorak as you type if you need that in a pinch and can't switch the layout.
Mobile Qwerty.
This one is actually not a downside! For me and a couple others I've talked to who type in Dvorak, typing in qwerty on a cell phone is not actually harder at all! It's really just a different part of the brain that handles thumb-typing on a smaller screen. I have not had any problems with that and in fact I probably can type faster in qwerty on my iPhone than I can on a computer.
One-handed typing.
If you switch your key caps this won't be an issue, but any time I am doing something else (like eating) and need to type a bit with one hand it's definitely harder and requires more thinking to find the right keys. Touch typing is all about having the right hand position, so if you don't have the right hand position it's harder to get oriented. I suppose I could switch to qwerty to do stuff like that, but I don't really ever do that. It's a bit annoying but not that bad.
Sharing a computer with others.
You all probably know about this if you switch between Arabic/English layouts... My wife types in qwerty, so when she or anyone else wants to use my computer I need to switch. This is a minor annoyance but I don't find it bad at all. I have a shortcut that switches, and an indicator in the menu bar that shows what the current layout is.
Making the switch.
I switched to Dvorak when I in university. I generally took notes on my laptop at the time, so I was in situations where I needed to keep up with what was going on in class and couldn't just go at my own pace all the time. There was definitely a time during which I felt like I couldn't type in either layout and that was frustrating.
It can be really frustrating trying to switch. It does take a lot of patience and hard work. I actually found the process to be really fun though. If you are a programmer (besides just being Lebanese) I expect you have the stubbornness and perseverance that it takes if you really want to do it :)
Regarding how it would affect your work, it's hard to say... The good thing is that as a programmer most of your work is not primarily typing lots of text, so I think losing some raw speed for a while isn't that big of a deal for productivity.
Keyboard shortcuts.
One of the harder things to get used to is that keyboard shortcuts are in different places:
The whole grouping of z, x, c, v for undo, cut, copy, paste is completely different. Some things end up worse off, others end up better. For instance on a mac Command-Q quits an application, Command-W closes a window. A common error is to quit when you wanted to close a window which could be really annoying. Those are now in completely different places so it's no longer a problem.
Overall for me like I said I just decided to not fight it and get used to the changes and it's been fine.
Method of learning.
I was very intensive in learning Dvorak for a few days, and practiced a lot for a few weeks straight. I definitely recommend using a typing tutor that is specifically designed for Dvorak. They will start you with a couple letters and some exercises that use just those two and expand from there. It's not fun at first, but it becomes really cool when you have just the home row. In Dvorak about 70% of letters in English (and similar in French) are typed on the home row, so you can actually type a good number of words just there so that's fun.
Also something I did is one or two days I wrote the keys on my fingers before I had the keyboard memorized, and I started visualizing typing when I wasn't on the computer too.
If you do want to learn, I recommend taking your practice slow and not trying to get ahead of yourself. The most important thing is accuracy, not raw speed. If you move fast but have to delete and correct your mistakes you will be slower in the end, and it forms bad habits.
Anyway, good luck and I hope this helps you make a decision!
dp0001 wrotei've been practicing with typing software for years, and the most difficult thing for me was to re-program my brain to type correctly. i was so into a habit of typing a certain way that i didn't even notice that i was typing incorrectly during the typing exercises in the software.
This is one of the big reasons I switched to Dvorak. If you already are used to one way of typing it's really hard to break those habits because it's easy to fall back into them without noticing. However, by switching you have a chance to re-train yourself from scratch, and if you're disciplined about it you can have better habits this time around!
