I wouldn't type with one hand if I had the chance to use both my hands. Using one hand would require a lot of motion and stretching the risk of different medical problems is higher, and shouldn't be overlooked even if you haven't had any before. I know that for a fact.

On the other hand I don't agree it would be very difficult to type even blindly with some practice. Especially with language like English, which doesn't use as many characters as some other languages.

You could take a look at half-keyboard which gets mirrored when you hold a key, like space because it would take you much less time to learn and become proficient.

When it comes to learning, you can always use a typing tutor for another layout, you'll just learn the keys' position in a different sequence. When I started with Colemak I used a Colemak tutor for only half-hour or so. Then I used a Qwerty tutor for text typing.

That's a good point about the risk of wrist injuries increasing.  But with what I would use it for probably wouldn't amount to a whole lot since I would only use it when needed (relatively rarely).  The left hand variant is the one I would use (and yes... I am right-handed, don't ask... heh), so if anything the left one would be the one stressed the most.  My right hand is actually the problem wrist/arm, so if anything, using the left primarily during training might alleviate that a bit (at least for a while).  The extra up/down motion is, IMO, the real killer here as you pointed out.

I think the problem with my right wrist can be blamed squarely on that damn mouse.  I have tried switching hands briefly, and that does seem to reduce the strange feelings somewhat.

You know there are ergonomic mice that don't require wrist movement, but use a ball, moved with fingers, to navigate the cursor. I've got a friend with wrist problems who's using one like this and it's actually very comfortable and decently accurate.

You can also think a bit on the way you hold the mouse and the angle of the wrist. I hope I'm not just talking stuff you already know, I'm trying to be helpful ;)

I think my mouse problem does in fact stem primarily from the angle, but the problem is, my chair's armrests are what's causing it.  The armrest is high up in relation to the mouse, and it tends to be in the way when I try to have my arm level with the mouse.  I can lower the chair, but then typing and looking at the screen would be extremely awkward, and it'd feel as if I'm sitting on a kindergarten chair... so that's not too great of an option either.

BTW DreymaR--I didn't originally see your first reply.  I'll check that link.

On QWERTY I used to be able to do a decent amount of one-handed typing since so many words could be typed mostly or completely on one side of the board, but that's just no longer possible on Dvorak.

Very good points.  I have noticed Dvorak being easier to type on with both thumbs with my phone sideways, but the tiny buttons annihilated any concept of accuracy (which was already somewhat weak even with Swype--I don't know how many times it "guessed" wrong and I had to waste time correcting it).  I have taken your and ghen's advice on MessagEase and have switched to it on my phone, and IMO something like that is just what a phone or some other touchscreen-based system needs.  I don't know if I'll ever get very fast at it and remember all the key locations and gestures*, but it definitely "feels" right.

*I'm always on the computer, and in fact that's how I normally write text messages... with a real keyboard on the Google Voice site.  Until I am stuck without a real machine and forced to type everything on a touchscreen, that's unlikely to change.  A real physical keyboard will probably always be the best tool for text entry.

Yeah, if I'd ever need to type with one hand (broken arm or anything), I'd certainly prefer a touch pad with MessagEase now, over any one-handed layout on a full-sized keyboard.  Incidentally I do own a Wacom Graphire tablet, which could be perfect for this.  But it connects as a USB mouse by default, we'd need a special software implementation to make it act like a physical ME keyboard (without "mousing" over an onscreen keyboard or anything like that).

I'm using ME on my Android phone for mobile ssh access as well, and I really love having all of the Unix special characters (slash, pipe, <>, etc) conveniently nearby.

Apparently an on-screen ME keyboard already exists for Windows (intended for Windows tablets, but works on a desktop as well).

And DreymaR... It's completely configurable via XML, including all drag+return chars and compose sequences, see the English template for defaults.

You can start begging Exideas again to get the same for Android. ;-)

The speed is measured through the MessagEase games. The Speed Game lvl5 is what puts you on the map and gives you a WPM figure, and the World Game lvl5 is an attempt to beat the world record by typing the text designated by Guiness' Book Of World Records for texting speed records ("The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.").

@ghen, how long did it take you to reach those speeds?

Fascinating to think that you can command a terminal on your mobile.  Is it usable?

That sort of speed in even a short amount of time, almost negates the keyboard IMO.  It feels like a lot of practice to get typing speed up with touch typing.  Might be less if you start out younger.

Regarding the mirrored layouts, and one handed typing.  I did think that you could almost throw out the left hand side of the keyboard under 'normal' Dvorak and replace it for one key, which could be perhaps the spacebar.  I'd have though that having the vowels on the left would make it easier to drop in prediction software to fill the gaps.  You would need to do that programmatically some how.  And no good if you want to use your left as the main hand!

I moved the mouse to the left hand years back.  You soon get used to it.  Since then, I've tried to rid it as best I can.  Never attributed specific pains to it, but did believe the VIM mantra about it slowing you down, when flipping between the mouse and keyboard.  I've been stuck on a laptop for the last few months, after Debian Squeeze decided not to recognise my PS2 ports anymore.  I'm not the biggest fan of the touchpad, but at least it's close by.   My thinkpad has mouse/touchpad buttons above the touchpad for use with the nipple, which I can use with my thumbs - that makes it favourable.   The nipple requires too much effort for me to use comfortably though - which is a little annoying - as it's in the perfect spot really.

I did try an ergonomic mouse, but I tended to lean on it - which is a bad habit I found hard to escape from.  If I lightly use the mouse I don't feel as if it's causing that much of a problem.  I like keyboard shortcuts where available, I do find the mouse a bit of a drag, especially when flipping between keyboard and pointer.

@UltraZelda64, it does sound as if your desk isn't the best of height.  I've a similar issue.  My chair won't go high enough, or rather I haven't a keyboard tray.   Drives me nuts.  I've taken to using a musical keyboard stand, with the laptop on top of it, as I can fully adjust the height.  The monitor is too low for my liking though.  I'm going to give it a go with an external monitor to see if I can find something a little more comfortable.

@ghen, well you're bound to find  a full keyboard easier because you are already proficient with it.  But considering you've only used ME for 5 weeks, that's pretty good going.   What's your average typing rate with it?  I'm thinking it took me weeks to get up to even 30wpm when learning how to touch type.

Being able to use Vim with it sounds like madness - I'd have though that the modifiers would have been a complete bottle neck.

Sure, that's true, working on a small phone screen will always have its limitations.  Navigating/editing being a major one indeed.  (However ME includes arrow keys and can also delete and jump over complete words at a time, forward and backward, not many Android keyboards can do that.)

But being able to type somewhat efficiently on a phone is nice and makes me actually want to use it.  And contending for speed records makes it fun too. ;-)  But >50 wpm gets me tired fast.  35-40 wpm is comfortable.

I've got to say that full hardware layout on the phone (if it's well made and slide-out, not squished under the screen) is such a joy to type on. I virtually make no mistakes on my Xperia Pro and got to 66 wpm in just a few days of normal use. And I definitely don't type a lot.

It's just such a shame they don't make good high-end phones with slide-out keyboards.