The Dvorak Zine

by Alec Longstreth, Frunch, Gabe Carleton-Barnes

Have you ever wondered about the placement and composition of the keys on your keyboard? Is it random? Is there a pattern? Is there even logic to it? Alec and company did their homework and discovered that the placement of keys was not meant for speed or accuracy but rather determined when certain typewriter keys needed more space between them so the strikes would not get stuck on each other! When more advanced and ergonomic keyboard designs were created they were ignored and QWERTY continued to rule the school. This is a comic guide to the future of keyboarding - the DVORAK style! With keys placed for maximum speed and accuracy (and way better comfort and ergonomics), this zine is truly a kind of activism that everyone who uses a computer should get behind!

Genres: Comics

zine

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Alec is a cartoonist who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He has been self-publishing his Ignatz Award winning comic book PHASE 7 since 2002, and his Eisner-nominated webcomic Isle of Elsi since 2016. To pay the bills, Alec works as a freelance illustrator and a comics educator.

Reviews

[Janie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great! My librarian nudged me toward the new zine section in my library and I checked out a bunch, most of which are not on Goodreads. Looks like more of my reading will not be Goodreadsable.

Engaging, instructive, and the perfect medium for the subject.
• Part I is a history of the keyboard (Debunkery: the QWERTY design was not made to thwart a bunch of superfast typists — but I won't spoil the real history here!)
• Part II is about the development of Dvorak
• Part III shows how to use it on your computer

You can stand the zine up and use its back cover as a typing guide!

I have no intention of using Dvorak :) and one of the narrators has an unconscionable rage toward semicolons ;) but I still liked this zine.