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Around the World in 33 Keyboards

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Re: Around the World in 33 Keyboards

#21

Post by qb45 »

noja wrote: post #8
minikites wrote: post #5

Looking at the subtle layout changes for Roman characters (which I assume are based only on letter frequency for each language) I wonder if it's possible to tell if they are more, less, or the same efficiency as QWERTY is for U.S. keyboards. Also, are there Dvorak equivalents for other languages?

Is there any real evidence that Dvorak layouts are better? I've only seen anecdata.

There you go, CAPITALS indicate letters outside of home row:

  QWERTY: Is ThERE aNY EVIdENCE ThaT dVORak laYOUT Is BETTER? I'VE ONlY sEEN aNECdaTa.

  DVORAK: is theRe anY eVidenCe that dVoRaK LaYout is BetteR? i'Ve onLY seen aneCdata.
It seems that every single word from your post requires less vertical movement on Dvorak.

Dorak also puts emphasis on hand alternation. I found evidence and better particularly awful on QWERTY - lots of row jumping and mostly left hand.

Not to mention that I'm less concerned with screen locking than my QWERTY peers - security by obscurity FTW :)

Re: Around the World in 33 Keyboards

#25

Post by dorfsmay »

aikah wrote: post #20

As a french person, I use an AZERTY keyboard, it can become really tedious when programming in some languages. The ` for instance is a pain to type : Atl Gr + 7 then space (though on apple keyboards it seems to have a dedicated key, but I'm pretty sure the space is still needed)... and of course numbers need the shift key to be held ... The issue is I can't really switch to QWERTY (accents).

On Linux and MS Windows you can switch between two keyboard layout quickly by a key combination.

Beside programing, a lot of the internet content is in English (including hn!), I find it it a lot easier to switch keyboard layout based on the language I need to use, rather than try to type in a language with a layout that wasn't meant for it.

Re: Around the World in 33 Keyboards

#26

Post by hodwik »

It seems difficult to program on many of these, as best as I can tell, many are missing symbols common to programming notation -- [] {} |

Portugal, Norway, Germany, Belgium, France, Czech R, and Croatia specifically.

Re: Around the World in 33 Keyboards

#27

Post by germanier »

[deleted] wrote: post #23

[deleted]

Except for some programmers (the kind that frequents this site but far from the majority) I can assure you that almost any German laptop buyer expects and prefers a German keyboard. Every keyboard in an office will be a German keyboard. All apps that are used and almost all games work fine with the German layout.

Might be different in small countries of course but I expect it to be the same in France, Spain, etc.

Re: Around the World in 33 Keyboards

#28

Post by germanier »

desdiv wrote: post #18

Interesting how the French Canadian keyboard is the only one where the escape key doesn't contain the word "esc". They went with the ISO keyboard symbol for escape instead[0]. I didn't even realize there was such a symbol before today. [0] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ISOIEC-9995-7-029--I...

If you use a Mac you can see that symbol in the UI, for example in the "Apple" menu on the top left ("Force Quit"). Interesting, because the key is not labelled as such.

Re: Around the World in 33 Keyboards

#29

Post by quernard »

desdiv wrote: post #18

Interesting how the French Canadian keyboard is the only one where the escape key doesn't contain the word "esc". They went with the ISO keyboard symbol for escape instead[0]. I didn't even realize there was such a symbol before today. [0] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ISOIEC-9995-7-029--I...

You're right, my macbook pro has that symbol, I've never noticed this before. But it looks like they must have recently dropped it, the new magic keyboard uses the word "esc" http://www.apple.com/xf/shop/product/MLA22C/A/magic-keyboard...

Re: Around the World in 33 Keyboards

#30

Post by [deleted] »

germanier wrote: post #27
[deleted] wrote: post #23

[deleted]

Except for some programmers (the kind that frequents this site but far from the majority) I can assure you that almost any German laptop buyer expects and prefers a German keyboard. Every keyboard in an office will be a German keyboard. All apps that are used and almost all games work fine with the German layout. Might be different in small countries of course but I expect it to be the same in France, Spain, etc.

[deleted]
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