We should change from the traditional QWERTY keyboard layout to DVORAK, a layout that is significantly better in every way. It will help us all type faster while reducing stress and strain in our hands. Voice recognition is getting better, but until it is widely used we should all be using DVORAK and teaching it to our children.

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Over the past few years I’ve developed a new pet peeve: watching my children learn how to type. I’m not annoyed about their progress or the overall process, they’re doing fine. But I’m frustrated that they’re learning to type using a keyboard layout that will slow down their typing and be worse for their hands. I’m talking, of course, about the traditional QWERTY keyboard.

The QWERTY keyboard layout was designed to make people type slower. That’s right, slower. In their early days, typewriters had metal prongs that stamped the letters on the page. If the typist typed too fast, the prongs ran into each other and the typewriter jammed. So the keyboard layout was designed to optimize typing speed, but only to the point that the prongs would not jam.

However, typewriter technology improved over time and gradually the new devices enabled faster typing. Typewriter companies hosted typing competitions as marketing gimmicks to sell more devices. Researchers studied words, typing mechanics, dynamics between the hands, and other factors in their efforts to find ways to win these competitions. And as a result of this research, a new optimized keyboard layout was designed that yielded not only much higher typing speeds, but also greatly reduced stress and strain on the hands and arms of the typist. This is the DVORAK keyboard. Take a look at the difference between the QWERTY and the DVORAK layouts:

The principles of the DVORAK keyboard are straightforward. The home keys should be the most frequently used letters—vowels, s, t, n, and h. Letters should alternate between the hands because this is much more comfortable and faster. Common runs of letters should be enabled and align with the natural dynamics of the hands.

This approach makes sense. But the QWERTY layout does not. Should we really have j, k, and f as the home keys that are the easiest to type? And the semi-colon? This simply makes no sense. The television game show “Wheel of Fortune” offers a great example of the relevant logic. Contestants try to guess phrases when they’re only shown a few of the letters in the words. They’re allowed to select 5 consonants and a vowel. Do they select j, k, and f among their consonants? Of course not! And why not? Because these letters are used relatively rarely. Instead they choose much more commonly-used letters like s, t, and n. We should use the same logic for the layout of our keyboards, placing these letters where they can be typed as quickly and easily as possible.

The DVORAK keyboard layout has existed since 1932. And typewriters have been out of use for decades. Our laptops have no prongs. So why are we still using a typing system that is designed to slow us down and is also giving millions of us carpal tunnel syndrome? Most important, why are we teaching our children to type in the same way? It makes no sense.

A few years ago I transitioned from the QWERTY layout to DVORAK. It was excruciating at first as I memorized the new layout and painstakingly trained my fingers to find the new letters. With a QWERTY layout I typed about 70 words per minute. When I started with DVORAK, I could manage about 25. Not fun (and pretty counter-productive for work!). I practiced quite a bit, mainly using a free online site (http://learn.dvorak.nl/). My wife Sabrina mocked me relatively mercilessly, (which was probably justified—how many experienced professionals teach themselves to type at age 40?). But I got better. Over the course of a few months I achieved about the same speed as I had with QWERTY, but with much less finger movement. I call it “whisper typing”—my fingers move much less with the DVORAK layout and I have almost no strain in my hands.

Now, several years later, I usually type closer to 90 words per minute. I use an online typing test (play.typeracer.com), and recently reached 115 at one point. So this is clearly an additional important benefit. Sabrina mocks me less now.

As I watch my kids learn to type, I shudder at the thought that they’re learning an antiquated, meaningless system that will waste way too much time and probably hurt their hands and arms. I cringe when I see the “keyboard” layouts for texting on cell phones—they’re QWERTY! This makes absolutely no sense–not because it makes typing on the cell phone inefficient, but because there is no rationale for the layout in the first place (would it be easier to have the letters in alphabetical order, for example?). DVORAK is better in every way: faster, easier, and safer. This is a change we need to make.