Why are the letters on a key board not in alphabetical order?

Question

boring question, but I just wondered!

Answer 1

the 'qwerty' order of keys was originally arranged due to the limitations of mechanical typewriters... if you typed too quickly, the 'hammers' that printed the letters on the paper would become stuck together.

therefore, the keys had to be arranged in such a way that the typists would slow down and be less likely to jam the typewriter...

Answer 2

In 1872, Remington produced the first mechanical typewriter, patented by C. Latham Sholes. Soon typists were going so fast that they were able to jam the keys which flew up to hit the typewriter ribbon. In the late 1870's: the "improved" Qwerty layout was designed to slow down typing, so those pesky keys would not jam anymore.

Answer 3

I read in one of those random useless trivia books that it started around WW1 when typewriters were invented. They were originally in alphabetical order, but the women typed too quickly, resulting in too many paper jams. So the manufacturers scrambled the letters to solve the problem.

Answer 4

its not cuz then it would be hard to type and u have to get used to typing letters that are all around. the main letters are at the home key and that is in the middle of the key board so thats where ur fingers are when u start to tipe

Answer 5

when typewriters first came out, they were arranged in alphabetical order, but the really good typists would type too fast and the typewriter would jam up and then wouldn't work, so they arranged the letters according to the usage of them and that is why we have the letter arrangement we have today.

Answer 6

The keyboard is set up so the most used letters are not right next to each other and to make it easier to type with speed by using all the fingers.

Answer 7

They are placed by whats used the most

the letter on the outter 2 rows are least used and then it goes in from there

Example: Z and X are in the very bottom row on the out side u barely use them

Answer 8

When typewriters were first invented, someone did a study and put the most used letters where they were easiest to reach and the least used letters where it was hardest to reach, it was supposed to make typing easier and faster.

Answer 9

They are arranged in what is called the qwerty format so that touch typists can easily learn to touch type and because it is the best format for using each finger on each hand more or less equally

Answer 10

They are arranged in that order so often use keys are easy to find. The standard keyboard is QWERTY