MacBook Pro 15 inch (bought in 2010), Mac OS X (10.6.4)
this has been resolved after many years in newer version of iOS — third party keyboards are now available. the best one ive found for dvorak, and the one i use day in and day out — http://tempestkeyboard.com/
I'm with you William. I've been typing Dvorak since my SE! That must be 20 years. I wish I'd read this first.
This is kinda like what being a Mac User used to be like. It couldn't be done because there just weren't enough of us.
you know.. the iphone is almost perfect in every way - but dear apple engineers - after waiting for five iphone iOS revisions - when, o when will we finally get the base functionality that we had 20 years ago..!?!? just a plain simple onscreen dvorak software keyboard layout.. its not a software limitation, as you can clearly add any arrangement of keys and call it a keyboard layout - thus, a glaring deficiency. :-(
This is a user-to-user forum. You're not actually talking to any Apple engineers here. Submit your feedback to Apple using the appropriate link on the Feedback page:
Best of luck.
Figuring that it at least won't hurt, I submitted the following feedback at the link below.
Maybe if lots of people ask for this feature, there'll be more chance they'll consider it.
Here was my request:
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Hi,
I own both an ipad 2 and iPad 1. Both allow for a hardware keyboard layout of Dvorak, but iOS 5 does not have a software keyboard layout in Dvorak.
The Dvorak layout is a high efficiency keyboard layout that places the most commonly used English vowels and consonants under the touch-typist's home keys and is designed to speed up typing. This is as opposed to the Qwerty layout which was created to slow down the typist so that manual typewriters would not jam (and how long has it been since you've used a manual typewriter!!:)
I've been using Dvorak for 11 years, so it's really difficult to change back to the inefficient Qwerty layout.
Could I please ask you to consider adding a software Dvorak keyboard layout to the iPad? It would be a wonderful addition.
Thank you for considering my request,
I'm with you Apomixis. I've been using a Dvorak keyboard layout on a Mac for 25 years and don't know why Apple won't provide it on the latest hardware. Why would I carry around a BT keyboard so that I can type efficiently on my iPod Touch?
Make sure you UN-select 'US qwerty'. Now if we can only get apple to make Dvorak an option on the ipad without a hardware keyboard!
The thing is, I don't know how anyone would touch type on an iPad using the software keyboard anyway - there's no home line guides - and you can't rest your fingers there or all of those characters will be input, right?
To use that people are looking at their hands or hand and doing hunt and peck.
The only solution for me that makes any sense are the hardware keyboard-and-stand-or-case solutions.
The perfect bluetooth keyboard in a case for iPad 2, for me anyway is:
iHome Bluetooth keyboard case for iPad 2
Model: IH-IP2100
Choosing DVORAK in the Settings app is awkward because of where they put it - but it works!
Under 'Add a Hardware Keyboard' go all the way to the bottom, and between Belgian and Colemak, you'll see...
Dvorak
What a relief - and this is totally satisfying. Sweet little compact keyboard - Just what I wanted.
One little note is that on the iHome keyboard the right-shift key is in a spot that I missed a few times in the beginning, (hitting the up arrow instead), but after about 5 minutes of typing I seem to have worked that out of my hands.
Enjoy touch typing in Dvorak on your iHome Bluetooth Keyboard Case!
Where are you finding this "Add a Hardware Keyboard" option?
The Dvorak keyboard doesn't work
