May
31

In Vista, if you decide to switch from the standard QWERTY KB layout to Dvorak you would not make the change in the keyboard control panel applet. No, that would be too easy :grin:

Instead, you need to make the change deep within the International control panel applet (intl.cpl) titled ‘Regional and Language Options’. Not very intuitive is it?

You can launch this by entering intl.cpl in the Run dialog or drill down into the control panel for this little bugger:

intl

Within the Regional and Language Options control panel, go to the ‘Keyboards and Languages’ tab then hit the ‘Change Keyboards’ button. This brings up the ‘Text Services and Input Languages’ panel.

Txt_srvcs

Highlight the language you will be typing in (in the above case you can see it’s EN by default), then the ‘Add’ button will bring up the last dialog to deal with here which is the ‘Add Input Language’.

add_input_lng

You can see the preview button to get the lay of the land before you make the big switch in case you’re going to be doing this by touch typing on a QWERTY board (in which case you’re a ‘manly man’). Here’s what the Dvorak preview looks like:

dvorak_preview

 

Tips on making the switch to Dvorak:

  • For a while after making the switch you may need to give yourself frequent typing breaks throughout the day while you become familiar with the new layout
  • Get a typing tutor. My favorite that helped me convert from ‘hunt and peck’ to about 50WPM is Mavis Beacon.
  • Dvorak Keyboards on Wikipedia
  • The muscle memory built up for keyboard shortcuts will need to be relearned (e.g., CTRL+C)
  • You might want to change your password to something a little more convenient for the Dvorak for a short period until you’re more comfortable with the layout.

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