Why Dvorak.
QWERTY won the typewriter market in the 1870s and never gave it back. Christopher Latham Sholes designed it to solve a mechanical problem (adjacent type bars jamming when struck quickly) that hasn't existed in any keyboard you've touched. He arranged the keys to slow typists down. It also became the layout everyone learned, which is why nobody switches.
Dvorak proposes a different bet. Put the keys you use most under the fingers that work hardest. Keep vowels on one hand and consonants on the other so most English words alternate hands. Move rare keys like Q, Z, X out to the corners. The result, on paper: shorter finger travel, more rhythm, fewer awkward stretches.
What the numbers say
The home row on Dvorak handles about 70 percent of English text. On QWERTY, it handles around 32 percent. Three-quarters of your typing day, your fingers stay close to home instead of reaching up to the top row or down to the bottom.
The claims rolled out for Dvorak vary in quality. "Up to 70 percent less finger travel" is the headline number, and it comes from modeling exercises (computing the distance fingers would travel given typical English text), not from controlled experiments with humans at keyboards.
The claim that holds up best: experienced Dvorak typists report less side-to-side hand strain. The claim that doesn't hold up: that Dvorak makes you faster. Top speeds on QWERTY and Dvorak are comparable. What changes is the feeling of typing, not the ceiling.
The cost
The first three days on Dvorak feel like learning to type for the first time. You'll average 5 to 10 WPM and miss everything. By week two, most people clear 25 WPM. By month two, you're around half your QWERTY speed. Getting back to your old QWERTY ceiling takes three to six months of consistent use.
You give up months of typing throughput for a long-term comfort gain. If you type for a living, that's a real cost.
Who should do this
People who type many hours a day and notice wrist or finger fatigue. People learning touch-typing from scratch with no QWERTY muscle memory to unlearn. Programmers with strong opinions about ergonomics. Anyone who finds the idea of an opinionated alternative interesting enough to push through six months of frustration.
Who shouldn't
People who switch between machines that aren't theirs. Anyone who relies on
QWERTY shortcuts (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, vim hjkl)
that don't translate cleanly. People who already type at 80-plus WPM on QWERTY
without strain. Writers in mixed languages where Dvorak's English tuning doesn't
help.
Common pushback
Won't this wreck my QWERTY? Yes, during the transition. After about two months of Dvorak being your primary layout, your QWERTY recovers to roughly 60 to 80 percent of its original speed. Many users keep both as separate muscle memories, like switching between two musical instruments.
What about Colemak? Colemak (Shai Coleman, 2006) tries to be friendlier to switchers by keeping common shortcuts on QWERTY positions. If the relearning cost feels prohibitive, Colemak is the saner bet. Dvorak is the older, more aggressive design.
Is there scientific consensus? Not really. The studies most often cited (August Dvorak's own evangelism, Earle Strong's 1956 work for the General Services Administration) are old and methodologically thin. Most claims rest on modeling and self-reports, not controlled trials. Switch because you want to, not because the evidence is overwhelming.
The decision
If you spend hours at a keyboard and you've ever closed a long writing session with sore hands, Dvorak is worth the experiment. If you're hoping to gain 30 WPM by switching layouts, save your time.
The honest sell is comfort and rhythm. Speed, if it comes, is a bonus.
Ready to try? Open the trainer and start on the home row. The about page walks through how each lesson works.