I tried the keyboard layout that was supposed to replace QWERTY—here’s what happened

I’m no stranger to using different keyboard layouts. I’m a big mechanical keyboard fan, and I still use typewriters, even in 2026. The IBM Selectric I grew up with had a QWERTY layout, and the vintage (well, more like dilapidated and in bad need of some oil) Smith Corona I’m using now also uses the layout. In the late 1800s, QWERTY became the standard for typewriter keyboard layouts. But in the 1930s, another layout emerged: Dvorak. It looked like it could beat QWERTY on paper, but it never quite got there. I wanted to find out why (and give it a go myself).