Being portable with Dvorak

Question

I've been using Dvorak for a couple of months now and have really come to enjoy it. Unfortunately not everyone shares my love and I need to use QWERTY at uni and occasionally when I program away from my desk.

I'd like to be able to use Dvorak everywhere I go, so I've been thinking I'd like to get a Dvorak keyboard that I can take with me anywhere. I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions about this - what do you do when away from your desk when you want to use a non-standard layout?

If you use a 'portable' Dvorak keyboard, I'd like to hear about that too. I'm particularly looking for keyboards that are wireless but don't require any special software or configurations to be used. Sturdiness would be a boon too!

Answer 1

I've been using my own edit of a German and Swedish Dvorak keyboard layout for three years now.

As both at work and at home, I have a Windows PC, I was able to import the Keyboard Creator File I had created, and do not need to switch. For my Apple devices, unfortunately, I could not find a way to to import it.

If it's for work, you should ask the responsible (IT?) if they can install your keyboard layout. If you tell them you are more productive this way, this should work out fine.

As for occasional keyboard usage, I think you should use your QWERTY from time to time to stay fit and get over that phase when you mix up some of the keys - there will always be situations when you may need to type a few words on a QUERTY (a friend's computer, an internet café, ...), it pays off to be flexible.

Answer 2

I use a mod version of Dvorak, and I use AHK script (use Ahk2Exe.exe to get win binary) to mapping qwerty to my layout on Windows. On linux, I use xmodmap.

Here is my scripts and binaries: http://whudoc.qiniudn.com/neo.html#install, and the code is hosted on GitHub: https://github.com/district10/neo_keyboard_layout/.

I use Poker II keyboard, which can be configured to have two layouts (hardware) in the same time (typical QWERTY and my version of Dvorak). As far as I know, HHKB Minila keyboard supports multi-layout too.

In brower? https://www.branah.com/dvorak

Hope this help.

Answer 3

You can also try going on to http://www.theworldofstuff.com/dvorak/dvorak.html It's not perfect, I've got various minor issues with it, but if you touchtype in Dvorak then it'll just recognise the QWERTY keystrokes as Dvorak without having to change the layout on the computer, which my work won't do. Then you can just copy and paste, and it means that even if your work won't install Dvorak, you still never need to use QWERTY.