- Download the latest version of Dvorak Improved Keyboard Layout for Mac - Fixes a keystroke issue. Read 3 user reviews of Dvorak Improved Keyboard Layout on MacUpdate.
- On your Mac, choose Apple menu System Preferences, click Keyboard, then click Input Sources. Open the Input Sources pane for me. Click the Add button, then search for Dvorak. Select one or more Dvorak layouts, then click Add. Dvorak: The most commonly used keys are under your fingers. Dvorak - Left-Handed: The most commonly used keys are under your left hand.
- Keyboard stickers with two languages: your own and Dvorak English layout. Stickers are designed to match 'English - Dvorak' layout on Mac and Windows. This is a great alternative layout for journalists, writers, stenotypists, and anyone who wants to type fast. You can set this layout both on Mac.
- Love the way it goes straight to Dvorak upon plugin, no need to mess with the operating system's keyboard mapping, whether it's Mac, Windows, or Linux. The blue button option to switch between Dvorak and Qwerty is a huge convenience! To anybody that knows Qwerty and is wondering whether learning Dvorak is worth it, the answer is.
Introduction
Dvorak Macbook Pro
To add the Dvorak Keyboard layout to your Mac please follow these steps: - On your Mac, choose Apple menu (left upper corner apple logo), - Select System Preferences, - Click Keyboard, - Then click Input Sources, - Click the Add button (+), - Search for Dvorak by Typing Dvorak in the Search box.
As a computer professional, you've probably done some typing over the years. A lot of typing. And your hands don't always love you for it. If you are concerned about catching the carpal tunnel syndrome, you should be looking into Dvorak keyboards. They have been designed to minimize the finger movement for the most common phrases you type. And when your finger move less, they get less strain too.
Dvorak keyboards are mostly known for their ability to speed up typing. Along with this comes the usual crowd of naysayers that state that it hasn't been proved that Dvorak actually is faster that Qwerty. However, no-one has ever produced evidence that it is slower either. And they're really missing the point, too. It isn't about being faster, it is about being easier. Dvorak keyboards are easier because they have been designed so that the most common phrases are located nearer the base position of your fingers.
I guess that speed and learning time is important if you are a corporation that have to pay to train typists, but I don't emphasize those factors. In my case, the slowest component is still the one sitting in front of the keyboard.
Mac OS X has the two-handed Dvorak layout built in. Left and right one-handed layouts are easy to add to your system.
Selecting Layouts
Use the following steps to enable and select a Dvorak layout in Mac OS X:
Select System Preferences in the Apple menu.
Click the International icon.
Click the Input Menu tab.
In the list, check the check box next to the Dvorak keyboard that you want to add to the Input menu. The Input menu is visible as a flag icon in the right-hand part of the menu bar.
Use the Input menu to select the active keyboard layout.
Apple provides two Dvorak layouts. The plain Dvorak layout is the same whether or not the command key is pressed. The 'Dvorak QWERTY <command>' layout has command-keys in QWERTY.
For details about setting keyboard shortcuts and other input options, click the help icon (question mark) in the International preference panel.
Left- and Right-Hand Only Layouts
After World War II, Dr. Dvorak was asked to create one-handed layouts to be used by injured veterans. Apple did not include one-handed layouts in Mac OS, but a set of one-handed layouts was created in 1995 by Steve Ingram (of the now defunct Dvorak International). Use the following steps to add these layouts to your Mac OS X system:
Download this file:
DI Dvorak layouts 1.0.1.zip (9.9 KB)
If the file is not extracted automatically to a folder, double click the zip file to extract it.
In the Finder, open the DI Dvorak layouts 1.0.1 folder.
Drag the DI one-hand '.rsrc' files into your Macintosh HD/Library/Keyboard Layouts folder.
If System Preferences is open, close and re-open it.
Select and use the new layout as described in 'Selecting Layouts,' above.
Note that the layout files in the above .zip archive have been renamed with a '.rsrc' extension for use in Mac OS X. (File extensions might be hidden.)
Thanks to Audra Morrison and Krishna Sethuraman for contributing to this section.
MacOS 8.5 and up have Dvorak layouts built in. Use the Keyboard control panel to select a layout. If you select more than one layout in the control panel, the selected layouts are listed in a menu on the right end of the menu bar. You can also enable a keyboard shortcut to switch between selected layouts.
Dvorak Machinarium
For older Mac systems, a number of alternative Dvorak keymaps are available. I found most of the ones on this page at an old Info-Mac ftp mirror.
For System 7 and above, most keymaps can be installed by dropping the keymap icon onto the System folder. To switch keymaps, use the Keyboard control panel. Systems prior to MacOS 8.0 don't have a keyboard menu option (except via a ResEdit hack that I've forgotten), but System 7 does let you enable a keyboard shortcut to rotate through the installed keyboards. The catch is you have to copy your system file and pull out all the layouts you don't need. Some older Dvorak utilities provide other keyboard shortcuts for switching layouts.
The following archive files are meant for extraction with Stuffit Extractor or BinHex 4.0 on an older Mac system. I haven't tried all these. I mostly used the Dvorak International (DI) version. These layouts will not work in Mac OS X as provided.
- di-dvorak-layouts-101.hqx (15 KB)
- Dvorak International layouts for System 7 and up. The docs claim it is ANSI standard, but it actually has improved bracket placement. It includes Dvorak layouts for both hands and versions for left or right hand only.
- dvorak-keyboard-de.hqx (14 KB)
- German Dvorak layout. The description is also in German!
- dvorak-keyboard.hqx (41 KB)
- Electric Dvorak. Layouts with installer and FKEY switcher for older Mac systems. Also works for System 7. The docs have an old address for Dvorak International (now defunct).
- q-dvorak-keyboard.hqx (9 KB)
- QDvorak by Quinn. System 7 layout with some enhancements, especially for folks who want command-keys in QWERTY.
In the old days, if you were brave and you wanted to roll your own keymap arrangement, you could use Apple's ResEdit program to open a copy of your System file and modify the KCHR resource. Later versions of ResEdit had a neat interface for this, but don't ask me how to use it! (I'm a hex-dump kind of guy.) I don't know how it's done in Mac OS X.
Dvorak Keyboard For Mac
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Last update: July 30, 2009Dvorak Keyboard For Mac
Original page established: 25 February 1996
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