Apple Keyboards + Dvorak?
I'm wanting to get a Mac mini. this involves buying a new keyboard (my current one's PS/2). However, I use Dvorak... Is it possible to easily rearrange the keys on the standard wired keyboard currently sold by Apple? By this, I mean: is it easy to remove, move and replace keys, and will they still be all at the correct angles / depths?
Comments
Wouldn't looking at the keys decrease typing speed?
Theres nothing like watching someone try to use your keyboard when the keycaps are normal, but the mapping is dvorak
Its a bit tricky if you arent a touch typist.
I find that Dvorak tends to confuse most people. At one point, someone tried touch-typing Qwerty on my PowerBook - that has the proper dvorak layout, plus the mapping. They looked up, saw gobbldy-gook on the screen, deleted it, then started counting out the keys to the letters in qwerty... :S
Originally posted by Mike Peel
On the whole, I touch-type Dvorak. However, every so often I glance at the keys to make sure that I've got my hands in the right position before I start.
That's why keyboards (at least my iBook's) have the two little protrusions underneath where your both index fingers should be.
mmmpie, I'll up the ante... watching someone try to use your keyboard which is set on Dvorak to edit a text file in vim
Originally posted by Gon
mmmpie, I'll up the ante... watching someone try to use your keyboard which is set on Dvorak to edit a text file in vim
That's the only way I know how to use it so I have the reverse problem and basically can't use vi unless the keyboard is Dvorak. Other people trying to use my Mac get the added task of translation as I have the Mac switched to French to practice my vocab (thank god for fast-user-switching for guest users).
Re: using Dvorak with Macs, it's incredibly easy to select two different keyboard layouts and switch between them, either with the the little flag in the menu bar or the Alt-Command-Space shortcut. Handy when you need to peck something out with one hand while on the phone etc.
(Actually that's surprisingly easy to do with Linux and XP as well, I assume they are catering for multilingual/multi-script users rather than Dvorak weirdos)
Originally posted by stupider...likeafox
Re: using Dvorak with Macs, it's incredibly easy to select two different keyboard layouts and switch between them, either with the the little flag in the menu bar or the Alt-Command-Space shortcut. Handy when you need to peck something out with one hand while on the phone etc.
There's also this shortcut command-space. The Applecare people say it should only work with "World Script enabled" applications (WTF? Isn't this supposed to be the operating system's business?) like TextEdit, but not all of the support guys got it to work on their own computers and neither do I. They say the last ditch thing to do is to "remove com.apple.systempreferences.plist" but I don't even know how to do that, and if it's safe or not. They also mentioned having to do this on a new user account (?). This is by far the ugliest mess I have seen on OS X so far.
(Actually that's surprisingly easy to do with Linux and XP as well, I assume they are catering for multilingual/multi-script users rather than Dvorak weirdos)
I don't use Linux but I know you can setup whole keymaps any way you like on it.. it has got to be nice when you can switch buttons like esc, caps lock and ctrl around whatever way you like.
On Windows I think keyb layouts work better than on the Mac. Windows remembers what keyboard layout was set for every program, so you can have a browser window open that uses US layout for writing on forums, a chat window with a native layout, etc. and you just switch between windows and get the correct keyboard. Also, the keyboard shortcuts for changing the layout are good. You get to assign specific number for specific layout, IIRC the command to switch is ctrl-shift-#. You don't have to go through all layouts to get the one you want. This could prove a problem for inputting japanese, for instance. You need a lot of layouts.
Originally posted by stupider...likeafox
That's the only way I know how to use it so I have the reverse problem and basically can't use vi unless the keyboard is Dvorak.
Did I mention my friends can't use vi even on QWERTY?
I generally touch-type Dvorak and QWERTY. Going back and forth frequently can be confusing, and I tend to look at the QWERTY keyboard occasionally, but overall it's touch-typing in both for me.