Dvorak and QWERTY differ in one big way: Dvorak puts the most-used English letters on the home row, so your fingers travel less and your hands alternate more. QWERTY is the layout everyone already knows. Dvorak is not a guaranteed speed upgrade, and the research does not promise one. What it offers is less finger movement and a layout designed around English, in exchange for a few weeks of retraining. Colemak is the third option and sits between the two.
TL;DR
- Dvorak puts A O E U I on the left home row and D H T N S on the right. QWERTY keeps most common letters off the home row.
- Modelled home-row use is about 34% for QWERTY, 71% for Dvorak and 74% for Colemak, so both alternatives cut finger travel.
- Don't switch for speed. Studies do not show a reliable gain, and the first weeks cost you speed. Switch for comfort and a layout that is built for English.
- Colemak is easier to move to from QWERTY because it keeps shortcut keys in place. Dvorak is a bigger change but a more complete rethink of the layout.
- You can try Dvorak for free in your operating system settings before you commit to hardware.
Table of Contents
- How the three layouts are arranged
- Is Dvorak faster than QWERTY?
- Does Dvorak reduce finger movement and strain?
- Dvorak vs Colemak
- What changes for gamers, coders and office workers
- How to switch to Dvorak (or Colemak) on your computer
- Our perspective on Dvorak vs QWERTY
- A keyboard built for the layout
- FAQ
- Sources
How the three layouts are arranged
QWERTY was designed for typewriters, and its letter order reflects that history, not how English is typed. The result is that many common letters sit on the top row or bottom row, and your fingers spend a lot of time reaching.
Dvorak takes the opposite approach. Dvorak puts all five vowels on the left home row and D H T N S on the right, which pushes you to alternate hands while typing English prose. Because the vowels are on one side and the common consonants on the other, a typical word becomes a rolling left-right-left pattern.
Colemak takes a different route. It was released on 1 January 2006 as a practical touch-typing alternative to QWERTY and Dvorak. It puts A R S T D on the left and H N E I O on the right of the home row, and it keeps several QWERTY positions, including the Z X C V cluster that holds undo, cut, copy and paste.
| QWERTY | Dvorak | Colemak | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home row (letters) | A S D F G H J K L | A O E U I D H T N S | A R S T D H N E I O |
| Modelled home-row use | about 34% | about 71% | about 74% |
| Hand alternation | Moderate | High | Moderate |
| Shortcut keys (Z X C V) | Original positions | Moved | Kept |
| Difficulty of switching | None | Highest | Lower |
The home-row figures come from Carpalx, a keyboard layout optimizer, which models typing effort rather than measuring people. Treat them as a measure of finger travel, not a promise about how you will feel.
Is Dvorak faster than QWERTY?
Not reliably, and anyone who promises it is overselling. A review of the evidence notes that a more controlled 1956 US General Services Administration study found retrained typists only matched their earlier QWERTY speeds. The large speed gains in older claims did not hold up well.
The early cost is real, so plan for it. A CDC-hosted learning-curve study of 16 participants recorded a 40-second average completion time on QWERTY and 181 seconds on the fifth Dvorak trial. The authors concluded that the lost productivity takes considerably longer to regain with Dvorak than with some physically modified QWERTY keyboards. A small 2025 study of four novice typists found mean speeds of 16.57 WPM on QWERTY and 8.49 WPM on Dvorak over 15 sessions, which shows how early those sessions still were.
The honest way to frame it: Dvorak is an investment, and the payoff is comfort and a layout that fits English. It is not a shortcut to a higher WPM score.
Does Dvorak reduce finger movement and strain?
On finger movement, yes. The modelled numbers above show Dvorak and Colemak both keeping far more of your typing on the home row than QWERTY. An independent guide to alternative layouts says they can reduce same-finger bigrams, finger travel and uneven workload, and it adds that the benefits are not huge and that switching takes at least a couple of months of daily practice.
On pain, be careful. Reduced travel and fewer awkward sequences are measurable, and comfort gains are plausible, but the evidence does not show a clinically meaningful drop in pain or repetitive-strain injury for every user. If you already have wrist or hand pain, see a physiotherapist or occupational therapist about your setup. A layout is one piece of that, alongside desk height, wrist posture and how long you type without breaks. Our guide to ergonomic vs regular keyboards covers the hardware side.
Dvorak vs Colemak
This is the choice most people end up weighing, and the two layouts solve slightly different problems.
Colemak is the gentler move. Its main practical advantage is that it keeps most punctuation in QWERTY positions and preserves the Z X C V shortcut cluster. The Colemak FAQ also describes it as easier to learn and to transition to from QWERTY, and it describes Dvorak as difficult and frustrating for existing QWERTY typists because it is so different.
Dvorak is the more thorough redesign. Vowels on one hand and common consonants on the other give you the strongest hand alternation of the three, and the whole layout is organized around English letter patterns. You pay for that with a full relearn, including punctuation and shortcuts.
A simple way to choose:
- Pick Colemak if you lean heavily on QWERTY-position shortcuts in a shared workflow and want the smallest jump.
- Pick Dvorak if you want the most hand alternation, you are happy to relearn from scratch, and you type mostly English prose or code.
We make keyboards for the second group. If that is you, a keyboard built around the layout makes the relearning easier, because the physical grid matches what you are learning (more on that below).
What changes for gamers, coders and office workers
Gamers. Many games assume QWERTY positions for movement. A developer discussion notes that Dvorak's equivalents of the WASD keys are the comma, A, O and E keys, and Colemak's are W, A, R and S. Games that read the physical key position instead of the letter work without any change. Scancodes are independent of keyboard mapping, unlike keycodes, and the same discussion recommends letting players remap controls. In practice: check the controls menu, remap movement to keys that feel natural, and keep a layout switch handy.
Coders. Brackets, slashes and symbols move around in Dvorak, which is why some people use a programmer variant. We cover the trade-offs in Dvorak for programming and the setup in our programmer Dvorak layout guide.
Office and shared computers. QWERTY wins on familiarity: it is the default on shared machines and preserves your existing shortcut muscle memory. If you share desks, you can still carry your own keyboard and layout, or switch the software layout in a few seconds.
Other languages. Dvorak and Colemak are tuned for English. Other languages have different letter frequencies, accented-letter needs and punctuation costs. If you type French as often as English, which is common in Canada, test your own typing on the layout before you commit.
How to switch to Dvorak (or Colemak) on your computer
You do not need new hardware to start. Dvorak is available through the common desktop input settings. Colemak is built into macOS, common Linux setups and Windows 11 from 24H2 onward, while older Windows installations may need an installer, so check you are installing the variant you want.
- Add the layout in your system's keyboard or input settings.
- Learn the shortcut for switching layouts. On Windows, Windows Key + Space is a quick switch, and on macOS Monterey or newer the Fn or Globe key switches input sources.
- Practise 15 to 20 minutes a day with a trainer, not during deadline work.
- Keep QWERTY available for the first few weeks so you can switch back for urgent jobs.
- Stay patient. The guide mentioned above suggests at least a couple of months of daily practice.
One security note: if a hardware security key types a one-time code and the output comes out wrong on Dvorak or Colemak, the maker recommends switching to a US standard layout while entering the code.
A comfortable desk setup helps during the weeks of retraining, when you will spend extra time deliberately typing slowly. A walnut keyboard and trackpad rest is one way to keep your wrists at a steady height through those practice sessions. Our typing trainer keyboard guide explains how to structure practice.
Our perspective on Dvorak vs QWERTY
We build KeBe keyboards around the Matrix-Dvorak layout because we think the layout and the hardware should be designed together. Dvorak already reduces how far your fingers travel. Matrix-Dvorak goes further: a straight-column key grid and hand-centred letter placement are designed to cut finger movement and typing fatigue even more.
The most common reason people give up on Dvorak is not the layout. It is that they are relearning on a keyboard whose staggered rows were built for QWERTY. We designed ours to remove that mismatch, and we added a typing trainer and autocorrect so the learning weeks are less painful.
Our advice is to treat the switch as a project, not a gamble. Choose a start date, practise a little every day, keep your old layout for emergencies, and give it a couple of months. If you want the most hand alternation and a layout designed around English, Dvorak is a layout worth committing to.
Joshua
A keyboard built for the layout
If you are ready to try Dvorak properly, our keyboards are assembled by hand in Canada and use the Matrix-Dvorak layout. Models include the mechanical KeBe v2 and the slim KeBe Lite, with low-profile switches, hot-swappable keys, per-key RGB lighting, integrated USB-C ports and hub, a screwless nylon case, a typing trainer, autocorrect and a dual-spacebar design.
See the current models, pre-order options and waitlist on the KeBe Canadian store. If you are still choosing between switch types, our guide to mechanical vs membrane keyboards will help.
FAQ
Is Dvorak better than QWERTY?
Dvorak is better at reducing finger travel and encouraging hand alternation, and it is designed around English. It has not been shown to give a reliable speed increase, so choose it for comfort and fit, not for a WPM jump.
Should I choose Dvorak or Colemak?
Choose Colemak if you want the smallest change and want to keep the Z X C V shortcut keys where they are. Choose Dvorak if you want the strongest hand alternation and are comfortable relearning the whole layout.
How long does it take to switch to Dvorak?
Expect at least a couple of months of daily practice before it feels natural, and a slower speed in the first weeks. A CDC-hosted study found that Dvorak typists were still well behind their QWERTY times by the fifth trial.
How do I change my keyboard to Dvorak?
Open your system's keyboard or input settings, add the Dvorak layout and learn the layout-switch shortcut. On Windows that is Windows Key + Space. The keycaps will not change, so a trainer or a keyboard built for Dvorak helps.
Can I game on Dvorak?
Yes, though some games assume QWERTY keys for WASD. Use the in-game remapping menu, or choose games that read physical key positions.
Sources
- FAQ - Colemak
- QWERTY vs. Dvorak vs. Colemak: Which Layout Should You Use?
- Carpalx - keyboard layout optimizer
- QWERTY vs Dvorak vs Colemak - What the Evidence Says
- A guide to alt keyboard layouts
- Analysis of Alternative Keyboards Using Learning Curves
- Performance evaluation of three computer keyboard layouts
- Detecting keyboard layout for WASD
- Scancodes vs keycodes
- Using YubiKeys with various keyboard layouts