iOS 16 quietly supports the Dvorak keyboard layout

What keyboard layout do you like to use? Is it a 9-key or a 26-key, or a radical? handwriting? Double spell? Wubi input?

Ars Technica found that with the arrival of the iOS 16 system, users have been able to select a touch-optimized keyboard in the system layout, and natively supports the 86-year-old Dvorak keyboard layout, including of course the more traditional QWERTY, AZERTY, and QWERTZ layout.

The Dvorak Keyboard or Dvorak Simplified Keyboard was developed and designed by August Dvorak and William Deeley in the 1930s as an alternative to the mainstream keyboard arrangement QWERTY layout, which was finally introduced in 1932. Completed, and applied for a US patent in 1936, Apple and Dvorak are actually quite related, for example, the Apple IIc is the world's first computer with a built-in Dvorak keyboard.

The advantage of this design is that typing is fast, and it is in line with the physiological structure of the human body. The frequency of letters is used as the main factor to allow interactive input with both hands, but the problem is that this layout is designed for English, and it is not suitable for users of other languages. Not friendly.

For English users, the main benefit of Dvorak is that it does a good job of evenly distributing the workload between all fingers when touch typing. It puts all the vowels on the left side of the main row of the keyboard, all the most frequently used consonants on the right, making them quicker and easier to hit, and then other less frequently used characters are grouped at the edge of the screen.

Currently, the world's fastest English typing speed is still created on the Dvorak keyboard. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Barbara Blackburn is currently the fastest typist in the world. In 1985, she typed continuously for 50 minutes on a Dvorak keyboard, averaging 150 words per minute, with a peak speed of 212 words per minute.

Interestingly, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak ("Woz"), a longtime fan of this keyboard layout, learned Dvorak around 1993 and never looked back (he said he was not involved in Dvorak Apple IIc development).

In an email to Ars Technica, Woz described his first learning of Dvorak. "I practiced typing on a plane to Tokyo" "I learned it for 5 hours and never looked at the QWERTY keyboard again. Simple as that. My son has successfully learned it in a very short time. He learned Dvorak in no time, and in about a week was up to the speed he was typing with QWERTY."

It is worth noting that Dvorak's proud speed is mainly due to the fact that users can use 10 fingers to type at the same time, so if you are a Dvorak beginner, you may not experience any advantages when typing with two fingers on the phone.

"My favorite thing about the Dvorak at the time was the way the fingers felt," says Woz. "Since the iPhone came out, I've had to use the QWERTY keyboard, but it doesn't get my heart anymore. I'm a typewriter. Very fast QWERTY typist, but now I have to look at the letters on the iPhone."