Dvorak/Qwerty OSX capitan

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

That is what I mean when I say "a shortcut is a shortcut" - there is nothing special about the Dvorak keyboard preventing a user to have any shortcuts (either using command, control, option or any combination thereof) he/she wants.

Yes, you are right of course. But there is something special about the Dvorak Qwerty ⌘ keyboard, in that it treats shortcuts differently depending on whether or not they contain the ⌘ key.

The reason such keyboards are created is that many users who find it possible to switch to Dvorak for writing text have a hard time doing the same for shortcuts, which they have memorized as particular finger movements and no longer associate with a particular letter.

juang54 wrote:

I touch type in Dvorak.

In Finale, while entering music, the " / "breaks or creates a beam to the previous note; if I 'touch type' that key while in Dvorak it would emit a" } ", which has no meaning to Finale. So: while I'm communicating with Finale I would either need to re-label the keycaps, or switch temporarily to the Qwerty keymap. Does that make sense?

Yes, except that "/" is not a normal keyboard shortcut which uses a modifier like control, option, or command. It is just an ordinary letter. So it looks like you need a keyboard layout which not only provides all qwerty shortcuts, but also will type qwerty letters instead of Dvorak for some keys in some circumstances.

juang54 wrote:

I touch type in Dvorak.

In Finale, while entering music, the " / "breaks or creates a beam to the previous note; if I 'touch type' that key while in Dvorak it would emit a" } ", which has no meaning to Finale. So: while I'm communicating with Finale I would either need to re-label the keycaps, or switch temporarily to the Qwerty keymap. Does that make sense?

The other part of the equation which may be bothering you is that entering music in Finale requires that one hand be on the computer keyboard and the other either on the number pad or a piano keyboard: to touch type would require removing my right hand from which ever device and 'tickling' for the dimple and... takes too long. If I need to touch the / key I can't spend the time translating from } to /; I need to hit it and move on.

I hope this helps.

JG

Then what you need is not the Dvorak Qwerty layout.

You need to have the separate layouts, Dvorak and Qwerty, and use a key combination to switch from one to the other.

In system preferences->Keyboard, click on "Shortcuts", and then on the left select "Input Sources" - you can choose a keyboard combination to quickly jump from one layout to another.

That said, I still don't understand what you say above about touch typing. Finale, like any application, is unaware of keyboard layouts. If it expects a '/', give it a '/', wherever it is in the layout you are using.

OS X El Capitan: Use Dvorak keyboard layouts

juang54 wrote:

If you read the current apple explanation of the D/Q keyboard

Is this what you are referring to?

OS X El Capitan: Use Dvorak keyboard layouts

FWIW, I see what you mean, the Dvorak - Querty layout doesn't not seem to work as advertised. You have to control-space or control-option-space to switch between Dvorak and Querty.

Luis, are you running 10.11.3? Because if I'm using the Dvorak - Querty layout and hold the command key then try and type Q it just wants to quit whatever program I'm in.

I see. For some reason I thought it was just supposed to swap from Dvorak to Querty. Without the Command shortcuts working. Thankfully I never have a use for Dvorak keyboard layouts. 🙂

dialabrain wrote:

I see. For some reason I thought it was just supposed to swap from Dvorak to Querty. Without the Command shortcuts working. 🙂

I think that is what the OP was thinking too.

Great minds think alike. 😁