And now I’m (slowly) typing this in dvorak.
spoiler
The vi keys are better than qwerty’s home row. It’s been two days and I’ll die on this hill.
Is it terminal?
Edit: Guess I should mention it’s a Nuphy Air60 V2 given the com. I was a bit hasty.
For around 20 years now, I’ve been using emacs (maybe one or two years), vim (maybe 10+ years?), neovim (maybe about 2 years), then kakoune for about a year, and now helix for about 2 years.
Also been using the i3 window manager for probably 15 years.
So I’m definitely one to be used to the “vi keys”.
But I never understood why people would navigate the lines and columns in their files using hjkl. It’s so damn slow. Using w, e or b is much faster and more accurate. And using / to search to jump farther is also much faster, even if you are using jk with a count modifier.
Not to mention the more modern ways of navigating files now by using the power of a language server. You can have stuff like find-and-jump-to-symbol, or jumping between all the different occurrences of a symbol. It’s blisteringly fast compared to hjkl. I rarely use hjkl, at least not hl.
You’re hitting the nail on the head there. I’ve always used b/e and honestly forgot w for motion until recently. Trying out dvorak is kind of breaking the habit in-editor aside from menu nav. Doom with evil-mode also has ‘s’ as a quick 2-letter isearch that is incredibly handy. I’ve seen about helix and other modern projects, they just seem to stray from the weirdness I learned to love about vim, even if they may be more intuitive.
Using hyprland, emacs, and now dvorak too is tangling my brain sometimes. I’ve resolved to using super for my WM mod key as to not mess up emacs even though it’s less comfortable. I’m considering making a post to get a feel for peoples’ use of alt layouts, WM bindings, and Extend/layers. Just not sure if this would be the right com or not.
To pack some more in here unsolicited, I also worked out a capslock overload that is kinda wild. Tap for oneshot control, hold for super, or tap-then-hold to hold control. The super-hold even reverts to a control when intending to use the oneshot and rolling too fast. Oh, and hitting caps again in the oneshot gives escape since caps to control/escape was my original overload. It’s gnarly and I want to post about it too at some point.
Apologies for the dump lol, might have to come back to this if I decide to post.
Apologies for the dump lol, might have to come back to this if I decide to post.
Don’t worry, I love it.
Say, have you heard about the Colemak-DH layout? I’ve never tried a different layout other than QWERTY in my life, but I’m excited to try and learn CDH after I get my ZSA Voyager split keyboard. I’m freaking giddy about that keyboard. I’m 38, I feel like waiting for Christmas Eve again. I also have a beefy computer ordered which I’m waiting on. Nope, not as exciting as the Voyager. 🤓
Yep, this site and DreymaR’s have been a big part of my layout exploration and wrapping my head around layers.
I’m actually considering switching to something newer instead like Colemak-DH (really interested in wide mod not having a split board) or canary, graphite, gallium, etc, etc. So many to look at. I kinda glossed over Colemak in general wanting to really step away from QWERTY and start with good habits. Dvorak is an eye opening wonder for me, I’m just not sure it’s what I want to stick with. It’s honestly amazing it’s still ergonomically competitive with all the computer-aided layouts today. If I can figure out enough of the theory and my own preferences, I might look at making my own. Not so sure about that yet.
I don’t know what I’d be more excited for. A new machine can be incredible depending on the jump in specs. But I think the RTX card in my laptop that I could finally game on was even overshadowed by using a high refresh display for the first time. Peripherals really make a difference.
I’m actually considering switching to something newer instead like Colemak-DH
Cool, man, let’s do it together! I already switched my key caps around on my mechanical keyboard, and replaced QWERTY with regular Colemak on GBoard on my phone. (Sadly the -DH variant wasn’t available there). All in, baby, let’s go!
Peripherals really make a difference.
Definitely. I remember the first time I got a high frame rate display, was in complete awe. All that motion!
depending on the jump in specs.
Indeed, this should be a fairly good jump, I think. I built my current machine in 2020. Now:
- 3900X -> 9900X3D
- RTX 2080 Super -> RT 9070 XT (it’s no 7900 XT but it’s a big upgrade for the buck)
Along with all the other modern upgrades you can think of. So I should be ecstatic lol. But my mind just keeps drifting off to the Voyager 💀
Dvorak is only clumsy for the first few years. After that, you stop thinking about it and it feels natural.
Lol idk if there’s a maybe little sarcasm there, but honestly, I love it already. I’ve been averaging about 15 wpm at 80% accuracy, and getting the groove to manage a few seconds at 30 wpm is so smooth.
Good work! Only a little sarcasm, but after 35 years, I can type faster than I can write, and it just feels like thinking into the computer. (Does it feel the same for QWERTY typists? I dunno)
QWERTY typist here, yes
Close to 120 WPM QWERTY here, yes.
I probably only get around 70wmp in bursts with qwerty, but I also type faster than I write. The best way I can describe the difference is my fingers feel all spider-like with qwerty, but in dvorak, I feel like I’m jookin (I was trying to think of a faster shuffle-y footwork, but this is sick). I can feel a different level of flow even at slower speeds.
What’s Emacs? Is it as good as Vim?
Emacs is a lovely operating system used by many. I think it also has a text editor.
Really wondering to myself if I should take this seriously or not, but I use doom with evil-mode fwiw. Both are holy saints.
Can you expand on your setup?
As far as the keyboard, I got a Nuphy Air60 V2 as my first. Maybe not super top, but it’s comfy and I’m loving it. Emacs is a rabbithole, unless you wanna get into that too lol
Oh, and the switches are Nuphy’s special moss LPs. I think they’re supposed to be like slightly heavier browns?
Did you reprogram reach key until you had dvorak layout, or is there a preset or something? I’m also not sure what youre doing with emacs or really what it even is 😬
I used Via because there’s a qmk version of the firmware, and yeah, I just set one of the layers to the layout. The Nuphy has a switch for Win/Mac mode that toggles between layer 1 (with 2 and 3 for modifiers) and 4 (with 5 and 6 for modifiers), so I can switch easily between qwerty. I actually did that to finish this cause I’m still slow as hell lol.
Emacs is “just” a text editor that’s an operating system in disguise, waaaay too configurable and macro’d out than any software should be. Or like all software should be, maybe.
Also thought I’d mention keyd (if you use linux). It’s a system-wide remapper. I considered whether to use software or the firmware, just because keyd has such a neat spec with layers, oneshots, and key overloads. It’s great.
So you use default vim bindings with dvorak? I use neovim and type in qgmlwy but I remapped the bindings in my config.
I haven’t tried it with vim in full yet, but I was surprised by how comfortable the hjkl positions are in dvorak. i like tiling window managers with win+vi keys for navigation and such, so it would be important. Dvorak L is kind of annoying at P, and I’m trying to make myself hit it with the pinky usually, but it actually feels alright for keying around in navigation.
I mostly don’t want to have to end up rebinding everything, possibly for every program I use indefinitely, if I stick with the layout. So I’m just learning the new positions to start, and will probably always need a way to switch to qwerty for games.
Please don’t dedicate yourself to only Dvorak, or you’ll forget how to use qwerty and alienate yourself to only your keyboards. Try alternating between both, I did the same for Colemak and now I can type both with similar speeds
Lol yeah, I did then same thing but went a little overboard. I type Colemak on my split ortho tented keyboard exclusively. I also learned to properly touch type on colemak. I’ve trained my muscle memory to the point I cannot type colemak on anything other than my split and If I try and touch type properly on a qwerty keyboard I end up defaulting back to colemak. To me they’re almost entirely different skillsets!
Why? I can touch type COLEMAK and type like I did on QWERTY years ago whenever I need, which is not often.
