Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 04:20:45 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199710230920.EAA23327@locke.ccil.org> Reply-To: HACKER G N Sender: Lojban list From: HACKER G N Subject: Re: Dvorak (& Lojban) X-To: Lojban List To: John Cowan In-Reply-To: <0EIH00LR1PXCI7@newcastle.edu.au> X-Mozilla-Status: 0011 Content-Length: 2522 X-From-Space-Date: Thu Oct 23 04:20:49 1997 X-From-Space-Address: LOJBAN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU On Thu, 23 Oct 1997, Lee Sau Dan ~{@nJX6X~} wrote: > 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). Does this mean that there are only as many keys on a Chanjie keyboard as there are on a QWERTY keyboard? Because if so, that's pretty impressive, considering how many characters there are in Chinese. > 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.) Of course. I already said this in the bit you snipped out. >Isn't > that intuitive (from the aspect of mechanical engineering)? I'm not talking about what's intuitive from the aspect of mechanical engineering, but what's intuitive from the aspect of USING the keyboard. > > 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). Which is the most useful sense for this discussion. > > 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. That's obvious. But it doesn't stop some things from being intuitive from whatever perspective and other things not being so. Dvorak is intuitive from a user's perspective and QWERTY isn't. Which is the whole reason why Dvorak is easier to learn as a second keyboard design than QWERTY is. That's the whole point! Geoff > > > > > -- > Lee Sau Dan 'u&u40(Big5) ~{@nJX6X~}(HZ) > .----------------------------------------------------------------------------. > | http://www.cs.hku.hk/~sdlee e-mail: sdlee@cs.hku.hk | > `----------------------------------------------------------------------------' >