[B-Greek] DVORAK Polytonic Greek Keyboard Layout

Steve Miller steve_miller at sil.org
Mon Apr 18 11:21:01 EDT 2011


Hi John,

If the idea of the Dvorak layout is more efficiency in typing English, 
you are right; Dvorak Greek may not offer any advantage over Dvorak 
Qwerty. The Dvorak layout is intended to place the most-used letters of 
the English language in the home row. But that's not why the font has 
appeal to me. The vast majority of my typing is with the Dvorak layout 
in English, and having a Dvorak Greek keyboard means I don't have to 
make the mental switch for my fingers at the same time I make the mental 
switch in languages. It is a practical consideration for a native 
English speaker who doesn't type a whole lot of Greek, and doesn't ever 
expect to.

Anyone who types in Dvorak can tell you that the layout doesn't have 
much chance of becoming institutionalized among even English speakers. I 
had my son learn it when he was younger, but he continues to type 100+ 
words/minute with Qwerty. I further confess the idea that using Dvorak 
on Greek has negative cultural implications to Greek makes me scratch my 
head. If someone types a great deal in Greek, and has need for a more 
efficient keyboard layout, I would cheer the building of such a layout 
to support that. Especially if any ancient Greeks still lived. But if 
ever such keyboard is built, I wonder how many people would use it. 
Learning a new layout takes a great deal of time and practice.

Steve
-- 
*Steve Miller*, Software Developer
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