Southpaw Dvorak

The original patent for the Simplified keyboard by Dvorak & Dealey, numbered 2,040,248, was filed on May 21st 1932. It’s available free, from FreePatentsOnline. The patent acknowledges that there is a (slight) right-hand bias in the design of the layout, and includes the comment:

For left-handed persons it may be preferable to reverse the keyboard…

So, in the interests of enabling choice, I’ve made a keyboard layout for MS-Windows, using MSKLC – the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator*. The new layout I’ve made is the standard Dvorak layout… reversed. I’ve christened it ‘Mirror Dvorak’ – although maybe ‘Southpaw Dvorak’ would be a better name for it :)

Not to be confused with the ‘left-hand only’ Dvorak layout – which is intended for one-handed use, ‘Mirror Dvorak’ might be worth considering if you’re contemplating trying the Dvorak layout and you’re left-handed. But note that a great many left-handed people use the standard version quite happily.

You can download ‘Mirror Dvorak’ (free). I also made a right-hand only UK Dvorak layout (also free). Both layouts are UK version, and include both a £ sign and the € symbol. I didn’t get around to doing the left-hand only one… shout if you would find that of use and I’ll see if I can get a round tuit. There are other keyoard layouts available from http://www.keyboards.jargon-file.org/ too, if you’re interested.

* After some time struggling unsuccessfully with MSKLC, I finally got it to work. I discovered purely by accident that MSKLC needs .NET Framework 1.1; I couldn’t get it to work under Windows XP with versions 2.0 or 3.0. I just love ‘upgrades.’ NOT!

P.S. There’s only one more month to go before my petition closes: please consider signing it!

Page updated 10May2022, minor text amendments, and broken links fixed.
Many thanks to 💥 ?Random Raiders! 💥 member Goldie for the heads-up!