E-Petitions

This petition is now closed, as its deadline has passed.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to conduct an investigation into the benefits of the use of the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard Layout. More details

Submitted by Colin Reynolds of Typocheck – Deadline to sign up by: 18 April 2008 – Signatures: 43

More details from petition creator

Children are being encouraged to learn keyboard skills at ages as low as three.

The QWERTY keyboard layout we now use was designed purely on the basis of technical limitations when the very first manual typewriters were introduced in the mid-1800s. QWERTY does not consider human physiology AT ALL.

The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard Layout ("SKL") was scientifically designed with the needs of the user in mind. It is believed by its many users to be superior, and yet the few comparison studies that have been conducted have been shrouded in debate for decades.

A 1945 study by the US Navy suggested that the costs of learning the Dvorak SKL are both trivial AND a worthwhile investment.

Significant benefits to productivity and health might be realised if the purported advantages of the Dvorak SKL are real.

A proper, unbiased, thorough study is needed to ascertain the truth.

Current signatories

Colin Reynolds, the Petition Creator, joined by:

  • mary carol jones
  • David Marshall
  • Dick King
  • S King
  • Wendy Tinley
  • Jason Brownhill
  • K Stanley
  • M Bowden
  • R Spooner
  • Tom Ward
  • Phillip Eaton
  • Maryse Carpentier
  • Martin Reynolds
  • stephen eglen
  • S Priestman
  • Will O'Hara
  • Simon Cann
  • Adrian J Bottomley
  • Richard Harrison
  • Richard George Reynolds
  • r hopkins
  • John Crowther
  • nicholas field
  • Richard Johnson
  • Adam Neather
  • Richard Garland
  • Trevor Thornton
  • Paul Bottomley
  • Abdullah Rhodes-Taylor
  • L Scatizzi
  • Simon Fowler-Dixon
  • Tibor Kora
  • Erno Newman
  • Seimon Williams
  • Craig Williams
  • Colin Hemming
  • Peter Flynn
  • val donnelly
  • P Foot
  • Claire Essery
  • Deborah Moore
  • K Edmonds

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