The BBC recently ran an article on how the qwerty configuration came about on the majority of keyboards used today. It talked about the history and briefly mentions the comparisons between qwerty and dvorak. What I found interesting is that the article doesn’t really dive into the age-old debate on which is better. While it’s stated as common fact, and reinforced by many as the same as how betamax lost out to vhs, we don’t really know for sure if the dvorak layout is necessarily better than qwerty. On the surface, it seems logical, but when you dive into the actual points claimed by both parties, it gets less certain. I’m wondering if Nick Baker steered clear of this debate, preferring to sidestep something that can stir heated conversations amongst many ‘afficionados’… One of the main claims made by the dvorak camp is an old Navy study done in 1944. What isn’t mentioned, is that Dvorak himself helped designed the study so he had a vested interest in the results skewing one way.
Elsewhere:
Efficacy of Alternate Keyboard Configurations Interesting Reverse Qwerty Vs. Dvorak test run by Misericordia University.
SSRN-The Fable of the Keys by Stan J. Liebowitz, Stephen Margolis Examines the claim that QWERTY is better than DVORAK.
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