iPad support for hardware Dvorak keyboards in latest SDK beta

A few months ago Macworld asked where's the iPad's Dvorak keyboard? Well, in the iPhone SDK 3.2 Beta 5, which was released on Tuesday, there's support for hardware Dvorak keyboards in the OS; however, still no sign of a soft keyboard layout for Dvorak fans.

A source sent us the above screen shot from the iPad simulator, showing Dvorak layouts as a hardware choice -- and if you've seen a Bluetooth Dvorak keyboard lately, let us know. This setting would presumably allow you to use a standard keyboard with the Dvorak layout, however, and apply stickers to the keys if needed.

Apple's official tech specs for the iPad still only list keyboard support for the following: English (U.S.), English (UK), French (France, Canada), German, Japanese (QWERTY), Dutch, Flemish, Spanish, Italian, Simplified Chinese (Handwriting and Pinyin), Russian.

As Wikipedia states, on a Dvorak keyboard, the letters and frequently-occurring punctuation are organized the letters and frequently-occurring punctuation "so that the cumulative distance traveled by the 10 fingers when touch-typing typical English text is closer to the minimum than when touch-typing that same text via the dominant QWERTY layout. This reduction in distance traveled was originally purported to permit faster rates of typing, but in later years is also purported to reduce repetitive-strain injuries, including carpal tunnel syndrome." The Dvorak keyboard was patented in 1936 by August Dvorak.

[Update: In the original post I used the explanation of a Dvorak keyboard from Wikipedia. While I did originally link directly to the Wikipedia article in the paragraph, I failed to explicitly state or use quotations that I had done so. I apologize for any confusion that this caused and thank the readers who pointed my error out. The error was mine and mine alone.]

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Source: http://www.tuaw.com/bloggers/michael-grothaus/

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A few months ago Macworld asked where's the iPad's Dvorak keyboard? Well, in the iPhone SDK 3.2 Beta 5, which was released on Tuesday,...

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RussPalmeri

With the settings as noted above, any BT keyboard will type with the DVORAK keyboard layout. I've been doing it all night on my new iPad.
There is no tablet-screen dvorak keyboard... yet.
Russ P.

April 09 2010 at 10:30 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Michael Zajac

Apple's Pages guided tour video clearly demonstrates typing on-screen with all fingers when the iPad is in landscape orientation.

Perhaps the software keyboard layouts are limited for iPhone compatibility or something. I hope Apple can add Dvorak in an update soon. It would suck for this geek to shell out for the most advanced computer in the world and then feel like a noob, hunting and pecking.

April 02 2010 at 9:31 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Joe Strout

You don't thumb-type on the iPad, you touch type (more or less -- hampered by the fact that you can't feel the keys, of course). The Dvorak layout DOES make sense here. Apple was one of the first computer makers to support Dvorak (on the Apple //e and //c, as I recall), and it's very disappointing to see them failing to support it now.

March 22 2010 at 4:58 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

scheeko

There's no Portuguese either (ranked #7 in the world), which is awkward considering there far more speakers than Dutch (#43) or Flemish...

March 19 2010 at 10:46 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

chronzz

its has been there since the first ipad sdk http://www.flickr.com/photos/chronzz/4310151708/in/set-72157623296821984/

March 19 2010 at 4:17 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

frank.lowney

But I wanted a Stenotype layout, see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenotype

... and on the iPhone too!

March 19 2010 at 3:51 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Brian

Last note on the Wikipedia thing -

Michael, I'm sure it was a simple mistake on your part. But deleting comments can be bothersome. Maybe next time just respond to our comment with a "My mistake, it's corrected now. Thanks for catching that," or something to that effect.

Cheers.

March 19 2010 at 3:51 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Steven

I switched to Dvorak in 2001. I forgot Qwerty pretty quickly. iPad not having it on the soft keys is a deal-killer.

March 19 2010 at 3:34 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

ernie.

Yes! That was make or break for me! So glad they have it!

March 19 2010 at 3:27 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

suomichris

And, by the way, what you are doing is still technically plagiarism--as written, you're indicating that the IDEAS are Wikipedia's, but the words are yours. This is not true, as the words are straight from Wikipedia; you need quotation marks.

March 19 2010 at 3:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply