Why are keyboard keys not in alphabetical order?

Question

What's with "QWERTYUIOP
ASDFGHJKL
ZXCVBNM"?

Answer 1

Good question - I found this online:
The layout of the computer keyboard was borrowed from the typewriter because there had been millions of people using typewriter when the computer keyboard was designed. To minimize the re-training efforts, most of the keys on the keyboard were at the same position as they did on the typewriter.

When the Remington typewriter was designed in 1877, everything was mechanic. Each character was attached to a type bar. The major problem confronting the designers was that different type bars got stuck with each other when people typing fast. The keys were then arranged in such a way that most frequently used keys were far apart.

Answer 2

The original keyboards were alphabetical, but were replaced by the modern keyboard arrangement -- called QWERTY after the first six letters on the top row -- which was designed so that common letter pairs were further apart and also so they would be typed with alternating hands. Those features were intended to accomodate mechanical typewriters, but were kept for computer keyboards to avoid retraining. Note that the middle row (ASDFGHJKL) has some letters still in alphabetic order as a remnant of the old alphabetic keyboards.

All the gory details are in the Wikipedia link below.

Answer 3

JS22496 has the correct answer. The keyboard layout is the way it is because when you type fast with a type writer the arms of the keys would get jammed. So they designed the qwerty type of keyboard layout to actually slow down your typing so that you would get fewer jammed keys.

If you are looking for speed you will want to try a keyboard with a Dvorak key layout. Dvorak places the most commonly used keys together. Many "speed typers" and often court reporters use this layout. In windows you can actually setup the Dvorak layout, and use a standard Qwerty keyboard.

Answer 4

They were invented before the alphabet?

Actually, it is a combination of most used letters in the center, and letters commonly used together being seperated from each other. With the old mechanical typewriters, with arms that had to come up, strick the ribbon, and move back, if you typed letter near each other too fast the arms would hit each other and stick. So they put letters often used together on opposite sides of the keyboard.

Answer 5

Keys are NOT arranged to make typing faster. If there were, why was the Dvorak system invented?

They are actually designed to slow down typing, because back in the day, typists could type faster than typewriters could keep up with. Ever get 2 letters jammed while typing them too close together?

Answer 6

Because in the old day when messages were typed on type writers the commonly used letters were to close together and often got jammed...

to prevent this they seperated the commonly used keys...

also it would actually be harder to type if the keys were in alphabetical order...

Answer 7

Th order helps to type faster.Also The layout of the computer keyboard was borrowed from the typewriter because there had been millions of people using typewriter when the computer keyboard was designed

Answer 8

When typewriter were first invented there was a problem with people typing too fast. The letters would stick if you typed too fast. So this brillant lady who I forgot her name thought of the idea of mixing the letters around. It helped until typewriter technology (now computers) got updated and no longer have that probblem. But the keys still remain mixed because most people eventually got used to them.

Answer 9

Qwertyuiop Wikipedia

Answer 10

They not arranged in alphabetical order because if were arranged in alphabetical the process of typing will come so hard lather than randomly order