'Dvorak' computer keyboard layout

Sections

1. Summary
2. Changes from other layouts
3. Similarity to other layouts
4. Scores
5. Comparison to other well-known layouts
6. Finger based metrics
7. English Word-based analysis
8. Comparison to other layouts (word metrics)
9. English heat map
10. Programming Code (all languages) heat map
11. Most common English bigram pairs
12. Most common Code bigram pairs
13. Typing lessons

Canonical name	dvorak.en.matrix
Form factor	Slab : Matrix
'Author'	Ian Douglas Author data may not be correct, we're working on it.
Keys horizontally staggered	No
Letters on thumb (lower and upper case)	0
Avoids AltGr for standard characters	No
Does not move non-character keys (ANSI/ISO)	Yes
Maintains QWERTY 'shift' pairs	No
Maintains QWERTY top row (ANSI/ISO)	Yes
Uppercase on same key	No
Conventional home keys, fingering, Space, Enter, Shifts, AltGr	No
Maintains QWERTY ZXCV	No
Maintains Colemak punctuation	No
Vowel hand	Left
Vowels and tricky characters	Left hand: AEIOUYaeiouy	Right hand: CHLRWchlrw

Click image for larger view

Download the Keyboard Layout Analyzer .json file.

Scores

Scores are percentages relative to the best layout for each metric.

Metric	Percentage
Finger-based metrics	76.69
Word-based metrics	89.23
English	72.22
Code	90.28
Proglish	81.00
Words metric for no same-finger	89.23
Overall score	80.87

All layouts (675)

Metric	Lowest	Lowest score	dvorak.en.matrix score	Highest	Highest score
Fingers	noel.en.ansi	26.61	76.69	vckb2.en.ergodox	98.50
Words	noel.en.ansi	18.27	89.23	full-r2-rt162_25-2ec2c1.en.ansi	100.00
Average	noel.en.ansi	23.83	80.87	vckb2.en.ergodox	97.54

Overview compared to all other layouts

dvorak.en.matrix ANSI layouts Ergo layouts

All Ergo (124)

Metric	Lowest	Lowest score	dvorak.en.matrix score	Highest	Highest score
Fingers	qwerty.en.ergodox	41.72	76.69	vckb2.en.ergodox	98.50
Words	neo2-us.en.ergodox	65.46	89.23	lydell-anishtro.en.ergodox	99.11
Average	qwerty.en.ergodox	51.34	80.87	vckb2.en.ergodox	97.54

Overview compared to all other Ergo layouts

dvorak.en.matrix Ergo layouts

All Ergo, uses AltGr (73)

Metric	Lowest	Lowest score	dvorak.en.matrix score	Highest	Highest score
Fingers	gupta-whrl.en.matrix	50.77	76.69	maks-ex.en.ergodox	93.45
Words	neo2-us.en.ergodox	65.46	89.23	hands-down-gold-ts.en.ergodox	98.96
Average	plum.en.matrix	58.46	80.87	maks-ex.en.ergodox	95.17

Overview compared to all other Ergo layouts, uses AltGr

dvorak.en.matrix Ergo layouts, uses AltGr

All Ergo, no letters on thumbs (87)

Metric	Lowest	Lowest score	dvorak.en.matrix score	Highest	Highest score
Fingers	qwerty.en.ergodox	41.72	76.69	x1.en.ergodox	90.48
Words	neo2-us.en.ergodox	65.46	89.23	uciea-vanilla.en.ergodox	98.76
Average	qwerty.en.ergodox	51.34	80.87	x1.en.ergodox	92.17

Overview compared to all other Ergo layouts, no letters on thumb

dvorak.en.matrix Ergo layouts, no letters on thumb

Comparison to other well-known layouts

dvorak.en.matrix colemak-thumbshift.en.ergodox mtgap-thumbshift.en.ergodox dvorak.en.matrix maltron-us-90.en.ergodox qwerty.en.ansi Best Ergo lydell-anishtro.en.ergodox vckb2.en.ergodox Worst Ergo azerty.fr.iso neo2-us.en.ergodox

Finger based metrics

Finger based metrics, as determined with Keyboard Layout Analyzer, using KLAnext scoring model, and then normalised to ANSI QWERTY = 100.
Lower is better.

English

Rank	Layout	Score	Distance	SameFinger	SameHand
Best	vckb2.en.ergodox	41.00	41.05	31.93	59.05
This layout	dvorak.en.matrix	56.77	59.80	51.46	61.32
Reference	qwerty.en.ansi	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00

Programming code

Rank	Layout	Score	Distance	SameFinger	SameHand
Best	x1_atreus-44-keys.en.ergodox	54.50	34.56	61.28	80.83
This layout	dvorak.en.matrix	60.37	42.89	67.13	81.83
Reference	qwerty.en.ansi	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00

Proglish (an 80:20 English:Code mix)

Rank	Layout	Score	Distance	SameFinger	SameHand
Best	vckb2.en.ergodox	47.08	41.50	43.74	64.91
This layout	dvorak.en.matrix	58.12	55.05	57.20	66.09
Reference	qwerty.en.ansi	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00

Overall Fingers score (4 * English % + Code % + Proglish %) / 6

Higher is better. Score is out of 100.

Rank	Layout	Percentage
Best	vckb2.en.ergodox	98.50
This layout	dvorak.en.matrix	76.69
Reference	qwerty.en.ansi	44.26

Metric	Lowest	Lowest score	dvorak.en.matrix score	Highest	Highest score
Overall fingers	noel.en.ansi	26.61	76.69	vckb2.en.ergodox	98.50

English Word-based analysis

Home Keys Analysis

The Home Keys for this layout are shown with red dots in the first image above, giving the following letters:

aehnostu

Home key common words

Not part of final score.
Which of the 200 most common words are typeable on the home keys.

Words handled

Words not handled

the to a that as on at he not an has one she so out than no then these those see use too us set

of and in is was for with it be by i his from are had which have or were this but you their they her all been will who would more its up can him there into we when said them about other time if some only also first could two my what over such do may me any like after very most new made your people now between should where years many being our before through much way work did well down back just even because own little make must good under man used both same how still three while last life against know year each get mr take long part off go day might great never found old gbp right another place came during again without come world men end upon think later say few left number away thought until home here small different system though around since often called within always every need went

Home key words

How many of the 30,000 most common words in the English corpus are typeable on the home keys.
Not included in final score ... layouts with letters on thumb have unfair advantage, and it punishes layouts which opt to keep O and U off the home row.

Home Key letters	English words typeable	Score	Longest word	Example
aehnostu	387	1469	9	tennessee

Word count
Word length

No same-finger words

How many of the 30,000 most common words in the English corpus can be typed without using the same finger twice.

Home Key letters	English words typeable	Score	Longest word	Example
aehnostu	20259	4102	18	telecommunications

Word count
Word length

Word metric comparisons

Metric	Lowest example	Lowest score	dvorak.en.matrix score	Highest example	Highest score
Home keys words	tahan.en.ansi	4	1469	cahi.en.matrix	5445
No same-finger words	noel.en.ansi	840	4102	dilbert.en.ansi	4597
Words average	noel.en.ansi	18.27 %	89.23 %	full-r2-rt162_25-2ec2c1.en.ansi	100.00 %

Comparison to other layouts

dvorak.en.matrix colemak-thumbshift.en.ergodox mtgap-thumbshift.en.ergodox dvorak.en.matrix maltron-us-90.en.ergodox qwerty.en.ansi ANSI layouts Ergo layouts Best Ergo cahi.en.matrix lydell-anishtro.en.ergodox Worst Ergo neo2-us.en.ergodox azerty.fr.iso

Heat map

English heat map

Programming Code (all languages) heat map

Note: Colour change points are different in the Code heat map due to the different character frequency distribution.

Ten most common English bigram pairs (excluding space and enter)

( er ht eh in an it no en es at)

Ten most common Code bigram pairs (excluding space and enter)

(er in en et ar el es or st at )

Typing lessons

Download some English words suitable for learning the layout.
Note if any files are empty it's because there are not enough words to create a lesson. This is most noticeable in the bad layouts.

Week 1	Homekey words	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Week 2	No same-finger words	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Week 3	Common / tricky words	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Week 4	Pangrams	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Week 5	So you think you can type?	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Week 6	Extra practice 1: Common words in text	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Week 7	Extra practice 2: Lorem ipsum and friends	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Week 8	Extra practice 3: Underused words	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Week 9	Extra practice 4: Commonly misspelled words	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5