Why is the keyboard arranged as it is?

Question

The letters on a keyboard are soo randomly placed, why???

Answer 1

he QWERTY keyboard layout was devised in the 1860s by the creator of the first modern typewriter, Christopher Sholes, a newspaper editor who lived in Milwaukee. Originally, the characters on the typewriters he invented were arranged alphabetically, set on the end of a metal bar which struck the paper when its key was pressed. However, once an operator had learned to type at speed, the bars attached to letters that lay close together on the keyboard became entangled with one another, forcing the typist to manually unstick the typebars, and also frequently blotting the document. Sholes solved the problem by working out which keys were most likely to be hit in rapid succession, and then repositioning them on the keyboard as far from each other as possible. The QWERTY arrangement solved the jamming problem not by forcing typists to slow down, but by separating common sequences of letters in English. Pairs of keys that are frequently struck in succession were placed as far from each other as possible, so that the hammers that were likely to be used in quick succession were less likely to interfere with each other.

The home row (ASDFGHJKL) of the QWERTY layout is thought to be a remnant of the old alphabetical layout that QWERTY replaced. QWERTY also attempted to alternate keys between hands, allowing one hand to move into position while the other hand strikes a key. This sped up both the original double-handed hunt-and-peck technique and the later touch typing technique; however, single-handed words such as stewardesses, lollipop and monopoly show flaws in the alternation.

An unfortunate consequence of the layout, for right-hand orthographers, is that many more words can be spelled using only the left hand. In fact, thousands of English words can be spelled using only the left hand, while only a couple of hundred words can be typed using only the right hand.

Answer 2

They were originally placed as they are because of a lot of research done by someone in the 1800s.
They analyzed many words and phrases to basically arrange the letters so that when typing, your hands move as little as possible. If you type correctly, your hands are supposed to rest on the "home row", which is "asdf jkl;". From there, the further you have to reach to strike a key, supposedly the lesser used that letter was. Notice that the letters that are a little more awkward to reach for, Q W Z X Y U V B N P, are not as commonly used. Hope this clarifies a bit.

Answer 3

The early mechanical typewriters could not be operated very fast or else they would jam. The keyboard was arranged to slow down the typist. As time went on though, typewriters improved as typists learned to type fast with the layout.

Answer 4

The QWERTY keyboard was layed out as it is to slow down typists. Early typewriters were crude mechanical devices, and the first layouts were of the alphabet in its normal order across several rows. Typing on it was very fast, and it caused the crude machines to jam up. Someone got the idea of mixing it up to slow down typists.

TRUE!

Answer 5

Oddly, the standard qwerty keyboard was designed to slow down typing so that the mechanical strikers in early typwriters would not jam.

Answer 6

The most used letters are in the 'home' row, and the least used letters are furthest away from the home position. When typewriters were invented it was thought that it would make typing faster.

Answer 7

They put the most common used letters in the spot where you need them the most. You do not use z that much so it is put all the way at the edge and along with q. It is made this way to make it easy access to the letters you use most.

Answer 8

Common letters are the easiest to reach

Answer 9

something to do with the way the brain wants to type. i think.

Answer 10

so it can be used by type writers