Why would anyone who can type 71 wpm in QWERTY want to switch to a different keyboard layout? There are many cases like the guys at DVzine.org who have improved their typing speed by switching, but their speeds in QWERTY were significantly lower than mine. And after a week an a half of using mostly DVORAK when typing, my speed is only around 19 wpm. But then again, switching back to QWERTY occasionally probably doesn’t help.

The hardest part is what to do about all the keyboard shortcuts that were designed for right-handed people with QWERTY. Quite frequently, I’m using Firefox with my right hand on the touchpad. I want to open a link in a new tab, but my left hand still on the keyboard is nowhere near the “t”. And the thought of relearning the muscle memory for all my VIM commands is just painful. That’s why I’ve been switching back and forth a bit too much for the good of my learning.

Oh well, school’s almost out for the summer, at which point I’ll have the extra time to take things slow and see if I really can improve my typing speed with less stress on my hands.