How did the QWERTY keyboard originate?

Answer 1

Hello! First off, the name QWERTY comes from the "word" formed by the first six keys, on the top left of the keyboard, (not including the tab or symbol keys), now I'm not certain this is entirely true, but the rumor that was passed on to me was something like this: Back in the old mechanical typewriter days, (even BEFORE my time!), when the keys where actually attached to metal arms, and those arms had steel letters on the end; each having it's own letter/number/symbol combination, struck a ribbon, and then struck the piece of paper... The women that where hired to type professionally began to get sooooo good at their jobs, they where actually too fast for the mechanical devices they where using, often causing the key-arms to become entangled... The keypad-pattern used back then was known as DVORAK, for the same reason we now use QWERTY. Qwerty was designed to actually slow these speedy typists down!, so that their machines did not get entangled, from the user's rapid speed. It seems correct to me, notice how most of the commonly used letters are on the left side of the keyboard? This is because it slowed down most of the right handed typists, (becuase 75%+ of the population are right-handed). This is also why many left handed typists are naturally faster than their right handed co-workers... being a lefty myself, I've noticed this to be true. Why then, don't we revert back to DVORAK? good question! we no longer have the limitations of machines, but then again, we'd all have to re-learn a new system, and you know how difficult it is to train old humans, (alot harder than old dogs!). Hey, I hope this helps!

Answer 2

The original layout of the keys was the keyboard we now know as "Dvorak." However, this allowed very rapid typing speeds, with the result that the hammers that moved the letters to the paper got tangled. The present-day QWERTY keyboard was actually designed to slow typists down.

If you're interested in the Dvorak keyboard, you can get a program that will allow you to run it (after all, the computer doesn't care which key is mapped to a particular letter). The various world records for typing are all on Dvorak keyboards, if memory serves, and are upward of 200 words per minute. I'm a pretty fast typist, but I only type about 80 words a minute on the QWERTY.

Answer 3

"A Short History of QWERTY

In 1867, Christopher Latham Sholes, a Milwaukee printer, filed a patent application for a mechanical writing machine. Unlike the manual typewriters you may remember from your youth, his machine had its typebars on the bottom, striking upward to leave an impression on the paper. This arrangement had two serious drawbacks. First, because the printing point was underneath the paper carriage, it was invisible to the typist. Second, if a typebar became jammed, it too, remained invisible to the operator. Sholes worked for the next six years to try to eliminate this problem, trying mechanical changes and different keyboard arrangements.

In 1873, E. Remington & Sons licensed the design from Scholes, and set their engineers to work to on the design. One of their keyboard layout changes was driven by a clever marketing idea. The Remington brand name, TYPE WRITER, could be most speedily typed if all of its letters were on the same row. Remington's salesmen used this slight bit of subterfuge to impress potential customers.

Competing designs continued to be introduced over the next six decades that solved the mechanical jamming problem, and enabled faster typing. These designs ranged from the so-called "Ideal" keyboard, which placed the most commonly used letters of the alphabet -- DHIATENSOR -- in the home row (circa 1880), to the more well-known Dvorak keyboard, patented in 1932.

How much better were these other designs? During the second World War, the US Navy conducted experiments and discovered that the Dvorak layout increased typing productivity so significantly, that the payback time to retrain a group of typists was only ten days! But these designs were never successful in the marketplace.

Why would firms consistently buy an inferior product? The answer lies not in the device, but in the context of how the devices were employed. Typewriters by themselves, are unproductive objects. Their productive employment requires the presence of a skilled operator - the typist. In the late 1880's, the practice of "touch typing" (where you don't cheat and look at your fingers) was developed. And it was developed for the Remington keyboard. So while competing typewriter designers were heralding their advantages to potential typewriter purchasers, the typists were learning how to use the Remington QWERTY keyboard. "

Hope this helps!

Answer 4

It was designed to slow down peoples typing, in the days of the old mechanical typewriter.
If ppl typed to fast the first models jammed.
Quote from Wikipedia ...

The 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[1]. Sholes solved the jamming problem not by forcing typists to slow down, but by separating common sequences of letters in English[2]. 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.

Answer 5

It goes back to the typewriter. The letters are arranged so that the letters used more often are on or near your stronger fingers. Keep in mind, back in the day on a manual typewriter you would have to push harder. But, having it arranged that way still works better for speed even on keyboard. So the other issue is how a typewriter worked. You push a key, and a bar with that letter on the end of it swung up and stamped it only your paper. Bars next to each other or pushed at the same time would jam the typewriter, so they needed to be placed to prevent that. It's not an issue with a keyboard, but it's tough to switch from tradition once it is started. We have done it that way for 130 year, so good luck in trying to change it.

Answer 6

QWERTY (pronounced /ˈkwərti/) 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 7

From what I remember being told, it was because when the original typewriters came out they were simply A-Z across and down and the secretaries were able to type so fast the typewriters couldn't handle it and kept breaking down. In order to reduce the speed at which people could type they introduced a keyboard that was harder to use.

This may or may not be true, but this is what I was told.

Answer 8

Back when people used typewriters, the keys were in alphabetical order and people typed so fast the keys got jammed. So they rearranged the keys in a way that wouldn't be as prone to jamming and that's how we got QWERTY.

Answer 9

goes back to the days of old typewriters. The "arms" could clog if you typed too fast, so the kb was designed to slow you down and avoid jams, believe it or not. It's been redesigned a few times, but new designs have never caught on. People use what is familiar, even if it's crap - that's why microsoft still exists.

Answer 10

The keys are arranged in such a way as to make the most used keys easier for typists using the proper method e.g. not the one finger method of typing.