Efficiency

First and foremost:

THE DVORAK KEYBOARD!!

Dvorak is a keyboard layout optimized for the English language. Dr. August Dvorak and Dr. William Dealy thoroughly thought through ways to arrange keys most efficiently.

In particular, they paid attention to sequences of keystrokes. The most common letters were placed on the home row (middle row). From there, each key was placed according to the strength of each finger. It is also important how much each finger and each hand alternates. If the same finger is used for more than one letter, it is slow, difficult, and uncomfortable to type.

The advantages of Dvorak include:

Comfort
Accuracy
Speed
Ease to learn

The differences are astonishing. There was an app that compared the distances of the two, but my link died. I wasn't sure how to compare the distances, but I came up with a few other things. Compare Dvorak to Qwerty.

Mostly due to how expensive Dvorak typewriters were, the Dvorak layout never really caught on. There were so few Dvorak typewriters produced that it cost a FORTUNE to obtain one.

Additionally, once something is ingrained as deeply as the Qwerty keyboard, it's very, very, very, very difficult to switch people over to a different system no matter how good it is. On the bright side, ANSI, the American National Standards Institute, recognized Dvorak. Operating systems that didn't originally have Dvorak as an alternative keyboard layout added it. AWESOME!

It's easy to switch just about any computer's layout!
Change your keyboard layout to Dvorak in 30 seconds.
Also, it's fairly easy to pop keys off and rearrange them. That's what I did on mine. ¦D

If you're interested in the history of the keyboard, take a look at the The DVORAK Zine. It's very entertaining and interesting!

The reason that I switched to Dvorak was to improve my accuracy. It took me years and years and years to learn Qwerty. Before I switched, I could type quickly, but my accuracy was pretty much stuck at 70%. It took me one year to achieve my old typing speed, but my accuracy greatly improved. I love Dvorak. It's so much more comfortable! If only I had learned Dvorak first!

This is a good place to learn. It's a java applet that I found while I was researching Dvorak. I highly recommend it. It follows along with you as you type, recording your typing speed, accuracy and regularity.

I personally found "l"s, "i"s, and "."s particularly hard to master. In order to focus on those particular characters I typed "I like igniting idiotic ice in idle inclined imps." over and over and over and over and over. ¦D

Second:

THE QUARE NUMBER SYSTEM!!

Quare is short for Quick Character. Quare numbers are based off of two systems you might already know. The first: English numbers one through nine. The second, the Num pad. It's relatively easy to learn. The purpose is to write numbers using the fewest strokes and to pronounce them using the fewest syllables.

The written system can be remembered by picturing the num pad. Two is the bottom middle, three is the bottom right, four is the left middle, five is the middle (write this circle small so it is not confused with zero), six is right middle, seven is top left, eight is top middle, and nine is top right. One is just a quick vertical stroke, and zero can be a slash up or down, but if it looks too much like a one, put a circle in the middle.

One advantage is that five of the ten numbers can be written either top to bottom or bottom to top. It's easy to alternate to whichever is more convenient.

If there are zeroes back to back, rather than writing, let's say 300, like 300 in Quare Num , write it like 300 in Quare Num shorthand . For 3000, write it like 3000 in Quare Num shorthand .

Version 2.1

Decimal:	Zero	One	Two	Three	Four	Five	Six	Seven	Eight	Nine
Quare:	Z	N	T	θ,th	F	V	K	S	D	L
Phonetic:	(Maze)	(Fin)	(Sit)	(Thin),(The)	(Safe)	(Vet)	(Pick)	(Kiss)	(Dog)	(Fill)

It is designed to be as intuitive as possible, but, as you can see, neither eight nor nine contain any unused consonant sounds. Therefore, the next most commonly used consonant sounds in English were substituted.

Tens are numbers ihn through ihl followed by ah as in hot. Hundreds -> ee; as in he, thousands -> oō as in boo, and millions -> oh as in vote.

123,546,789 is pronounced IhNeeTahThohFeeVahKooSeeDahL.

The sounds ih and m are designated separators. Sounds by themselves are not always easy to pronounce or interpret, but place them next to either of these and it will almost always solve the problem. 4 -> ihf (if). 300 -> theem.

All functions are represented by the r sound. Times -> rtih, divided by -> rdih, plus -> rpih, subtract -> rsih, to the power of -> rthih, and equals -> rih. Decimals are represented by rpy. For instance, 3.1 would be pronounced ihthrpyihn. Just as the Decimal system works, any digits after are listed in order in this way: 3.14159265 -> ihthrpyihn-ihf-ihn-ihv-ihl-iht-ihk-ihv.

Variables are represented the v function of some variable like ex. X -> rvex.

Parentheses are a bit different. ( -> pffff. And ) -> p as it sounds mirror imaged. If you listen to a reversed recording of the p sound, it sounds like, ffffp. Quantity squared is very lacking. I have no idea why we don't do something like this in English. For x+(x*4x)² I say x plus in x times four x out squared. It avoids ambiguity.

Version 1.0

Decimal:	One	Two	Three	Four	Five	Six	Seven	Eight	Nine
Quare:	Uh	Oo	Ee	Oh	Aa*	Ih	Eh	Ay	Ah
Phonetic:	(Hut)	(Do)	(See)	(No)	(Hat)	(Sit)	(Set)	(Pay)	(Hot)

*Five and nine have the same sound. In my original system, five was pronounced ahee ("I"). Later, looking through my other Quare notes, I discovered aa, which fit perfectly!

Tens are numbers uh through ah followed by n. Hundreds -> m, thousands -> zh, millions -> l, billions -> z, trillions -> v, and who really cares after that! I have them if you really want them.

111,111,111,111,111 is pronounced umunuvumunuzumunulumunuzhumunu.

For tenths, hundredths, etc., tack th onto the end!

Now for problems. Times -> t, divided by -> d, plus -> p, and subtract -> s. Equals is y as in (y)ou. Commas and periods are used the same. Zero is the only tricky one. B(oo*)k. If someone mishears you, say, "UhsUhyOo*." Or zero. ¦)

Third:

Quare Num Mnemonic

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
R	N	T	SH,CH	F,B	V,M	K,P	S,Z	D,J	L

Secrets of Mental Math by Arthur Benjamin and Michael Shermer is a book packed full of incredible things. In chapter 7 there is a phonetic code. I disliked the way that it was designed and thought that it should have been more intuitive. This phonetic code, Quare Num Mnemonic, is based on Quare Num 2.0, but there are a few large differences.

The sounds found in English not used in Quare Num Mnemonic include θ (thaw), th (the), h (hat), ing (ring), g (go), w (win), y (yam), zh (version), and all other vowel sounds.

The way that I use the phonetic code, it makes it possible to remember strings of numbers easily for long periods of time after a minute of figuring out a memorable translation. Let's say your friend's phone number was 840-7667. (The first seven digits I generated just now.) You could remember this by translating it to "A job raising puppies," which is fairly easy to remember.

I wrote this program to practice it. One-thousand digits of pi, here I come!

Fourth:

Gregg Shorthand

Gregg Shorthand Diamond Jubilee Series is supposedly the best. I found a copy at the public library over the summer (Oozheh), but I only learned a few of the characters. I wanted my own copy, so I bought one that I found on eBay. It sat in my locker for the first half of senior year, but before long, (Oo Oozhay) I got totally sucked into it. I couldn't put it down! So now I know shorthand. The initial reason that I wanted to learn it was to overcome my no-note-taking policy. As a perfectionist, I suck at taking notes. Every time my teachers made me take notes, I just couldn't stay interested in the lecture.

People's reactions when they see me writing it are hysterical:

"What? You can read that?"
"Man your handwriting is sloppy." XD
"It's just squiggles! Your new nickname is squiggle."

It's very easy to learn. I highly recommend it!

Diamond Jubilee Gregg Shorthand

I've been trying to find someone who knows shorthand since I found out about it. I didn't like the way the book was formatted and wanted to learn everything at once. (Big mistake.) Going through the book thoroughly from beginning to end is the best way to learn it. Anyway, I had asked my history teacher who attended secretarial school, all my English teachers, and a few of my other teachers if they knew shorthand, but none of them did. In Media class one day Mr. Cahn, the head of the English department, was working on his laptop at my teacher's desk for some reason, and I was finished with what I needed to do, so I took out my shorthand book. I went up to him and asked him if he knew, and to my great delight he said, "No, but my secretary does." I went NUTZ! The next period I had study hall so I ran up to her office and had the greatest conversation with her about it! That was the best day I'd had in a long time!