If there was ever an idea of mine that was considered ‘outside the box’ by my colleagues it was suggesting a feature on using the Dvorak keyboard layout.

It was offered with the best of intensions (take note please naysayers). I’ve not used it for a little while because I didn’t have time to learn it to level of Qwerty but I was definitely picking it up more quickly than I’d expected.

If you’ve never heard of Dvorak, I strongly recommend looking at this introduction. DVZine.org is also an excellent resource but the site seems to be down at the moment.

To summarise, the Dvorak layout was created with a lot more attention to how people type. This even included arranging the home keys (the ones your fingers start from) with the relative finger strength in mind, giving your little (pinkie) finger a break.

Anyway, the Colemak keyboard solves one of the biggest problems of the Dvorak keyboard by leaving the most commonly used shortcut keys – Z X C V B - in the same place as Qwerty.

Here’s a picture from Wikipedia, and there are lessons on the Colemak website.