Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 01:55:01 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199710230655.BAA12132@locke.ccil.org> Reply-To: "Lee Sau Dan ~{@nJX6X~}" Sender: Lojban list From: "Lee Sau Dan ~{@nJX6X~}" Subject: Re: Dvorak (& Lojban) X-To: Lojban list To: John Cowan In-Reply-To: HACKER G N's message of Thu, 23 Oct 1997 14:15:08 +1000 X-Mozilla-Status: 0011 Content-Length: 2590 Lines: 58 >>>>> "HACKER" == HACKER G N writes: >> Heh. In fact, when imagining the location of a key, I tend to >> imagine pressing it, then think about where my fingers have >> gone. Sort of like asking my fingers where it is ;). It seems >> that not all of our memory is in our heads... HACKER> Yeah, that's the same way I remember it. :) I do the same thing, too, even when I type Chinese! When I type Chinese, I use the Changjie inputting method. Changjie is not phonetically based. It is based on the shape of the characters. It decomposes a Chinese character into several 'radicals'. The character is then typed in by keying in the component radicals according to certain rules. Now, seeing a character and its component radicals, my hands would automatically move to the correct key and type it. It's a reflex action. Now, when a friend asks me how to type a certain character, I'll first imagine that I had to type that character. Then from the intended movements of my fingers, I can tell my friend which keys he should press in order to type that character. To specify the keys to press, I use the corresponding letters on a QWERTY keyboard (unless he is also a Chanjie typist, in which case I tell him the Chanjie radicals) It is a translation from the key positions into English letters (according to QWERTY positions). HACKER> I'm not surprised, because Dvorak is intuitive; QWERTY Well... what IS "intuitive"? QWERTY was designed in such a way so as to avoid the jamming of adjacent types in a typewritter when one types rapidly. (If you have a mechanical typewritter, try pressing the keys for 2 adjacent types simultaneously, and you'll find that the types jam together.) Isn't that intuitive (from the aspect of mechanical engineering)? Dvorak was designed to minimize hand/finger movement. In this sense, it is ALSO intuitive (from the aspect of the typist, esp. on non-mechanical devices). So, whether something is "intuitive" depends on the aspect from which you view it. It is a very subjective judgement, and is highly cultural dependent. -- Lee Sau Dan 'u&u40(Big5) ~{@nJX6X~}(HZ) .----------------------------------------------------------------------------. | http://www.cs.hku.hk/~sdlee e-mail: sdlee@cs.hku.hk | `----------------------------------------------------------------------------'