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No software Dvorak Layout!?!?

Didn't buy the ipad2. NOT buying the new ipad. No Dvorak keyboard layout. Seriously Apple? Come on!!!

If I wanted it as a hardware option I would just buy a laptop.

Posted on Mar 9, 2012 6:44 PM

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83 replies

Mar 18, 2012 8:31 PM in response to point618

The thing is, I don't know how anyone would touch type 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 some sort of fast 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!

Mar 19, 2012 11:10 AM in response to point618

I didn't make this post to argue QWERTY vs. Dvorak. Any sensible person knows that Dvorak is more efficient and easier FOR SOMEONE FIRST LEARNING TO TYPE. If you are already proficient in QWERTY, then I would never recommend changing, unless you are up for a real challenge. If you have never learned to type, then Dvorak will make you learning experience much nice, especially if your are older. I learned to type Dvorak and was never proficient in QWERTY. I look at a QWERTY keyboard, and you may as well have just dumped the letters all over in random places. You like the QWERTY keyboard on you iPhone/ iPad, NOT because you touch type with it, but because you know where all the letters are. I try to type QWERTY, and I'm thinking, "Where the **** is 'c' ?" I want a Dvorak layout on my iPhone/ iPad for the same reason you want a QWERTY- I know where the letters are.


As for the reason Dvorak "Flopped," is because companies were scared to try something different after having sold so many QWERTY typewriters.


Quick history lesson- The QWERTY keyboard was designed specifically for inefficiency, because the old typewriters would jam if you typed too quickly. So they came up with the QWERTY layout specifically to slow you down. With the invention of the electronic typewriter, that was no longer a problem- hence the fast and efficient Dvorak layout. Unfortunately, the almighty dollar won out and QWERTY is still the standard for MOST, but NOT ALL, businesses and schools.

Mar 19, 2012 11:33 AM in response to point618

point618 wrote:


I didn't make this post to argue QWERTY vs. Dvorak. Any sensible person knows that Dvorak is more efficient and easier FOR SOMEONE FIRST LEARNING TO TYPE.

Sure but that doesn't help you live in the real world.



point618 wrote:


As for the reason Dvorak "Flopped," is because companies were scared to try something different after having sold so many QWERTY typewriters.

Actually, it flopped because the typists didn't want it. Royal, Remington and Smith-Corona all offered Dvorak versions and they each sold maybe three units. Dvorak was a configurable option on the Apple IIc. You flipped a switch and rearranged all the key caps. Again, zero interest on the part of the typists because more than one person in a household used the computer and it was too much of a nuisance to move all the key caps, type a letter and then put the key caps back where they were.



point618 wrote:


Quick history lesson- The QWERTY keyboard was designed specifically for inefficiency, because the old typewriters would jam if you typed too quickly. So they came up with the QWERTY layout specifically to slow you down. With the invention of the electronic typewriter, that was no longer a problem- hence the fast and efficient Dvorak layout.

Yes. Now would you like to hear the 5000-year old reason why our highway lanes are ten feet wide? Who cares what the reason is? Good or bad, it's now ubiquitous.



point618 wrote:


Unfortunately, the almighty dollar won out and QWERTY is still the standard for MOST, but NOT ALL, businesses and schools.

Again, no, absolutely no. The typists didn't want it.

Mar 19, 2012 11:29 AM in response to point618

http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html


Don't count on it, though. Regardless of the claimed advantages of the Dvorak layout (there have never been any unambiguous and uncontested studies that prove that the Dvorak layout is indeed easier or more efficient, only studies for both sides of the argument that are claimed to have been biased), it's a fact that the number of people who use it is a very small percentage and that doesn't appear to be changing, so native support for the Dvorak layout in iOS is not likely, particularly since there are more than one version of the Dvorak layout, though only one supported as a standard by ANSI . But one never knows. You can express your interest to Apple via the feedback page.


Meanwhile, there are apps that support Dvorak layout, though only within the app itself.


Regards.

Mar 19, 2012 4:35 PM in response to point618

Once again. The post was not made to argue qwerty vs Dvorak. The point was people arguing with me that ipad doesn't need it because you don't touch type on the iPad or iPhone. If that's the case, why is there a qwerty layout? Why didn't they just put the letters wherever they wanted? Its because you know where the letters are! It's comfortable for you. Qwerty drives me crazy and I don't want to use it. Now we go back to my original post. I'm not buying the new iPad because it doesn't support Dvorak.


As for people not wanting Dvorak, it's because they already knew Qwerty! Why would anyone want to learn to type all over again? If I had learned Qwerty, I would not want to learn Dvorak either. But I would not be so ignorant as to think that nobody wants it.


And I don't think that the people at Apple are not smart. Every computer I own is a Mac and I can't stand using my work pc. I think Apple is as good as it gets, which is why I can't believe that they would abandon a Very larg community. Yes we are! There are a lot more people using Dvorak than you may think.

Mar 25, 2012 7:56 AM in response to Philly_Phan

I do not understand the anger against those of us who prefer the Dvorak keyboard. Relax, folks, especially PP.


A few remarks: If we prefer Dvorak, and you prefer Qwerty, it doesn't hurt you.


Yes, the vast majority uses Qwerty. Nevertheless, thousands of people use Dvorak. It is a standard option on iMacs, and yet it is not available on the iPad. That absence is frustrating for the thousands of us who use Dvorak. And yes, it is true, I believe, that there are no good comparative studies. Nevertheless, as someone who has used both keyboards, that just doesn't matter to me. As someone who has used both, it is overwhelmingly obvious to me that Dvorak is far better: easier, more comfortable, faster, more accurate (which redoubles the improvement in speed). It's like the difference between walking and crawling. Moreover, it is not true that if you already use Qwerty then it makes no sense to learn Dvorak. People think that because it took a lot of work to learn Qwerty. But it is far easier to learn Dvorak. I used a typing tutor (Mavis Beacon) for half an hour a day for two weeks, and that's all it took. And lastly, it is extremely easy for Apple to design different keyboards. They do it for the iMac. So why not do it for those of us who use or would like to use an iPad—however small a proportion we are—and who have discovered and adapted to the vast superiority of the Dvorak? Very simple matter. No need for people to get angry that some of us are not like most of us. We're not hurting anyone. We are not telling Qwerty users that they have to change, but Qwerty users are telling us that we have to change. Perhaps the word of someone who has used both systems for many years is worth considering.

Mar 26, 2012 3:51 AM in response to point618

point618 wrote:


THIS IN NOT A QWERTY VS. DVORAK POST. I didn't make my comments to argue that. You want to have that discussion, find another conversation. My point was simple. I (along with thousands of others) use Dvorak. I am disappointed its not in the iPad. Therefore, I'm not buying an iPad. DONE!

Yes, that's what you said several weeks back. Why the anger?

No software Dvorak Layout!?!?

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