One of the most persistent tech myths is that QWERTY was originally invented to prevent typewriters from jamming, which it would do by forcing users to type more slowly. Turns out that's not true, but it's pretty widely believed to have helped many people get started in the world of alternative keyboard layouts, designed to help you type more efficiently.
ContentsAlternative KeyboardsDo They Work?Configure an Alternate KeyboardTo Alternate or Not to AlternateThe logic behind these keyboard layouts is as follows:when using QWERTY, your fingers must move across the entire keyboard, as many commonly used letters (most vowels, for example) are not in the main row. So it makes sense that if you just put the commonly used letters in the main row, your fingers wouldn't have to travel as far, which would increase your speed and fatigue.
While there is a whole subculture of alternative keyboard designers and users, there are only two that have taken off in significant numbers:Dvorak and Colemak.
Although it was only invented in 2006, Colemak has already become very popular. It was designed to be similar to QWERTY (it only brings seventeen changes to the keys) while putting your fingers in the main row as much as possible. In fact, he does slightly better than Dvorak on average, with 74% of the shots off the line.
If you delve deep enough into the world of keyboard layouts, you'll come across other fantastical beasts, like:
Worker (very recently invented, but arousing interest)
QWPR (only eleven keys away from QWERTY rather than seventeen)
Unfortunately, there is a serious lack of hard data around this debate – it is quite a difficult subject to study, and it does not attract too much outside attention. It's certainly true that the "travel distance" between keys is much smaller and they tend to focus on "inward rolls" (typing successive letters moving inwards instead of outwards), among other interesting advantages. This all sounds great, but world records have been set using both Dvorak and QWERTY, and the studies that have been done have been mostly inconclusive. Most evidence of speed and comfort is anecdotal, although there are plenty of anecdotes.
However, there really isn't any evidence against alternate layouts either, and it's possible there is something that hasn't been definitively proven yet. Learning a new keyboard will take time and effort, but beyond that, someone who wants to try adding a few extra points to their typing skills has little to lose. It's still a good idea to follow QWERTY, though - it's still the dominant keyboard in the world, and being reduced to hunting and pecking on a borrowed computer is no fun.
Fortunately, alternative keyboard layouts are easy to configure. No additional hardware is required, just a few software tweaks.
Dvorak
Most major PC operating systems have a built-in Dvorak option. For Windows, go to "Control Panel -> Language -> [Language] Options -> Add Input Method", then you can find Dvorak in the list. macOS also comes with Dvorak and Apple has instructions for activating it on their site. For Linux, you can enable it through the GUI or the command line.
Colemak
Although it doesn't come with most machines, Colemak is still easy to find. Just download it from the Colemak webpage (available for Windows, Mac, and Linx), install it, enable it in your computer's language/keyboard settings, and learn the layout. If you want to make a slow transition to installing Tarmak keypads, which only introduce a few new keys at a time, that's also an option.
Personally, my allegiance goes to Colemak. I bought this a few years ago and it is now my default keyboard. I kept my QWERTY skills, but my typing speed has improved significantly since making the switch. The improvement could easily be attributed to the amount of time I spend typing, although I might have improved QWERTY anyway.
Overall, most people should probably stick with QWERTY. If you already know, the frustration of adapting your brain and fingers to a new layout may not be worth the possible boost.
If you really want to embrace a new layout but don't want to throw your QWERTY skills out the window, Colemak is probably the easiest to learn and it's well structured. For a classic paradigm shift already on your computer, Dvorak is hard to beat. If none of these look good, there are plenty of other layouts compiled by people who spent quite a bit of time thinking about it.
