· 2 min read
Switching back to Qwerty after 5 years of Dvorak
Dvorak was more comfortable to type on, but the friction with keyboard shortcuts and compatibility made me switch back to Qwerty.
I started using the Dvorak keyboard layout in May 2021, almost 5 years ago. The main appeal was hand alternation. Qwerty often required typing multiple consecutive characters with the same hand, which felt awkward. Dvorak felt more comfortable, with more frequent alternation between hands, heavier use of the middle row, and less reliance on the pinkies.
Dvorak and keyboard shortcuts
I used the Dvorak - QWERTY ⌘ keyboard layout on macOS. It lets me type in Dvorak while using Command shortcuts with the Qwerty layout. Without this, frequently used keyboard shortcuts like Command+C and Command+V would have been Command+I and Command+. in Dvorak, which is awkward to press with one hand.
But it wasn’t perfect. A few applications like CleanShot X did not respect the QWERTY ⌘ part and recognized Dvorak bindings even with the Command key. Other shortcuts without the Command key stayed in Dvorak. And then there was vim, which doesn’t use modifier keys for commands, so it was impossible to use the Qwerty version of shortcuts in it.
I adapted to vim’s Dvorak mappings without major issues, but certain keys are clearly designed for Qwerty. The hjkl navigation keys, for example, make less sense in Dvorak. For gaming, I had to switch to Qwerty to use WASD movement. This worked fine for the games I play, where I rarely need to type, but switching back and forth would have been annoying in games with chat or text input.
I could have remapped every shortcut that uses at least one modifier key to behave like Qwerty. But that wouldn’t solve shortcuts that use letter keys alone, like in vim.
Customization vs following standards
Customization can be valuable, but following standards has benefits too. Using Qwerty means I can often type on someone else’s device without friction, and they can type on mine.
I still enjoy typing in Dvorak. It feels more pleasant, and I prefer the special character positions. But I decided to try Qwerty again after nearly five years. I want to see how it feels after all this time.
