September 03, 2008

Dvorak update

Okay, learning to type differently is just a bit odd. For one thing, you realise that as a touch typist, you kind of think or see a word and your fingers just wiggle and the word pops up on screen. Learning a new system, you have to go back to seeing a word and recognising individual letters and then thinking about moving each finger to get that letter in the new system. But I guess I had the same thing happen when I first learned QWERTY (twenty years ago, yikes), so we shall overcome.

So far over the last three days I've spent about half an hour a day doing online lessons or drills and have covered the home row and the second row. Blistering Dvorak typing speed at end of Day 1 - 7wpm. Blistering Dvorak typing speed today - 13 wpm so that's at least improving. Most of the speed tests include all the letters so I get slowed down having to look up at the diagram to work out where the ones I haven't memorised yet are. Tomorrow hopefully I can do the drills for the bottom row and then it's just a matter of practice, practice, practice to get the speed up.

I've been listening to music while I type and it's funny, to some songs I can type faster (or is it some I slow down to keep the beat). Maybe I need a metronome or something.

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