Keyboards,,, who designed the 'qwerty' layout?

Question

and why in such arrangement as opposed to ABC etc ?

Answer 1

A masochist.

Qwerty was designed and patented in 1896 by Christopher Latham Sholes, the inventor of typewriter. Originally keys were laid out in alphabetical order which caused frequent jams of moving parts. Sholes rearranged the keys so that most frequently typed letters were spread apart to minimize the jamming. He obtained a patent for this keyboard layout which became known as QWERTY and became US standard 101 keyboard.

he QWERTY layout was designed to slow typists down. Today, we can type as fast as we like on a computer keyboard, but in the days of mechanical typewriters, if you typed too fast, the arms that struck the paper would jam together. The QWERTY layout is designed to slow down the typing by placing more frequently used letters in awkward places where weaker fingers would hit them.

The layout has been maintained on computer keyboards, despite the fact that there are no mechanical levers to get entangled. Alternatives, such as the Dvorak layout have been around since the 1930s which allow a faster typing speed.

QWERTY is most commonly found on English keyboards. Other countries have alternatives. For example France uses an AZERTY layout and Germany uses a QWERTZ layout.

http://www.pauldunning.com/qwerty/history.html

Answer 2

From what I remember from school, typewriters always used to have the ABC layout, but kept jamming as the spikes were too close to each other. The QWERTY key arrangement was designed to make sure the most common key combinations were further away from each other. Or (option 2), as workers in American typing pools were paid by the page, they figured this new layout would slow them down - which it didn't it speeded them up.

Then there's the DVORAC layout...

Answer 3

QWERTY, is the most common modern-day keyboard layout on English language computer and typewriter keyboards. It takes its name from the first six letters seen in the keyboard's top first row of letters. The QWERTY design was patented by Christopher Sholes in 1868 and sold to Remington in 1873, when it first appeared in typewriters.

Answer 4

It evolved way back in the days of manual typewriters where each "key" was linked to a mechanical arm that lifted a small letter up to the paper to imprint the letter on the sheet.

The idea is that letters that are often used after each other are kept some distance apart in the internal mechanics so as to reduce the chances of entanglement between the letter you last used as it drops and the next letter coming up. Even at quite fast typing rates.

It is also quite useful as it stops your fingers getting tangled up, and it also ensures that each finger is used about the same amount as you type.

Because of different letter useages, some keyboards are not "querty" at all. In france they are "azerty"

Answer 5

Invented by Christopher Sholes in 1868 and sold to Remington in 1873. Frequently used pairs of letters were separated in an attempt to stop the typebars from intertwining and becoming stuck, thus forcing the typist to manually unstick the typebars and also frequently blotting the document.

Answer 6

reginald p. qwerty designed the first keyboard for typewriters after going nearly insane listening to the dit's and dah's of morse code in 1845.

Asked if he would do it all again at the ripe old age of 103 in an exclusive Times interview he was quoted as saying

"What?"

Answer 7

some dude named sholes if i recall correctly... not sure, but i think i heard it was to slow down his typers who were moving so fast that it jammed his machines back in the old days...

Answer 8

It was a close relative of Mr POIU

Answer 9

certainly not Dvorak

Christopher Sholes is your main man.

Answer 10

ARe you high???????