Why are the letters of a keyboard in the arrangment they're in? Why not ABC order? This is driving me nuts!!!

Question

Yea... I was looking at the keyboard as my comp. was turning on and I was trying to find a pattern in the keyboard. I remembered my foreign friend sitting there saying, "Back home the letters are in a different order, so sorry if I'm typing slow."
It made me curious, you know? So WHY are the keys in the order they're in? Any theories are appreciated! Anything!
By the way I'm not complaining about the order, but I couldn't find a pattern.

Thank you!!!

Hilarious X. I'm complaining that I can't find a pattern. I'm NOT complaining about the order itself. I like the current order very much. So go away.

Answer 1

The keyboard is layed out the same way that it was when typewriters were being used.
The most popular Keys are not the home keys. The keyboard was layed out to make it take longer to get to the most popular keys and they are put on opposite sides of the board alternately. This was so that the metal pieces that slapped the impression onto the ink ribbon and paper would not get all locked up all of the time.
If you use a Dvorak keyboard layout, in which the most popular keys are home keys and the most use ones are around them you will type over twice as fast. The only problem is most everyone else in America uses the qwerty layout.

Dvorak keyboard:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard

Answer 2

It is a hold-over from the days of "typewriters" which you may not even remember. Early typewriters had a mechanical action that moved a single letter from a stationary place to impact (hit) the platen which caused ink to transfer from the letter to the paper rolling around the platen. As the keys moved upward, they would sometimes hit each other, and cause the typewriter to jam. So the inventors tried to move the keys apart so that commonly used letters were not next to one another. "S" and "T" may be a good example. Alphabetically they are next to each other. But many words use them next to each other too. That meant, that if the two letters were typed in the word "Stop" for instance, when the "S" from the typewriter headed to the platen, the "T" would come from the same resting place, and travel almost an identical path. They typewriter would jam.
So, they devised a means of seperating commonly used letters--and that's where we get our "Qwerty" keyboard.
When computers were invented, they solved the problem completely (and actually IBM had solved it earlier with the invention of the "ball-type" typewriter) because letters don't actually strike a platten anymore. But by the time computers came into existence, everyone who needed them was already used to typing with a standard keyboard, so on the early computers, they just duplicated the keyboard every business person had been trained on.
So, it's a hold-over from the days of typewriters.

Answer 3

The QWERTY keyboard layout was devised and created 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] A business associate of Sholes, James Densmore, suggested splitting up keys for letters commonly used together to speed up typing by preventing common pairs of typebars from striking the platen at the same time and sticking together. The effect this rearrangement of letters had on maximum typing speed is a disputed issue. Some sources assert that the QWERTY layout was designed to slow down typing speed to further reduce jamming.[2] Other sources assert the rearrangement worked by separating common sequences of letters in English. Ostensibly, the hammers that were likely to be used in quick succession were less likely to interfere with each other.[3]

Answer 4

Ah, my expensive, enable an previous guy (i'm 40 5) who discovered to sort on a instruction manual typewriter clarify. before while the 1st typewriters have been being made, it develop into observed that folk who ought to sort right away might jam up their typewriter keys. A smart guy whose call i won't be in a position to submit to in suggestions regarded at this difficulty and got here up with an order for keys on the keyboard that should bring about minimum jamming. This resulted interior the present "QWERTY" keyboard that we use at present. greater effective placements of the letters on the keyboard got here, such by fact the Dvorak keyboard (that's an option on Apple desktops to this very day). They never caught on. there is now, interestingly, a sprint diagnosis meaning that the QWERTY keyboard prevents repetitive rigidity injuries. whether it quite is no longer actual, evidently that we are caught with it.

Answer 5

If I remember correctly, when typewriters were first invented ( with mechanical arms that pressed a die against a ribbon to print the character), the striking arms often stuck together because the keys were struck to close together. The keyboard you use today was designed so that the typing was actually slowed down to prevent the arms from sticking together. This keyboard is called the 'QWERTY' keyboard because of the top left 6 keys. Hope this helps.

Answer 6

Yes There is a reason. It is based on the keys we use the most.

The standard English keyboard layout is known as QWERTY. It was invented by Christopher Sholes in 1868 and sold to the Remington Typewriter Company in 1873. Various alternatives to the QWERTY layout have been suggested, many claiming advantages such as higher typing speeds and more ergonomic position of keys. One of the most common alternatives is the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard.

Answer 7

Good thinking.......!! Sometimes we do not stop to think why certain things are that way in spite of all the advancement in technology.

The reason is it goes back to the typewriter days where the keys are are arranged so that the typehead strikes the paper in such a fashion that they won't jam.

That tradition continued to this day even though there are no type heads. As a touch typist, you will notice - you can actually type faster in this present arrangement because in English Alphabet, certain letters appear more often than others. So, the theory goes why fix if it ain't broke. Therefore the QWERTY stayed on..........Tradition.....!! Tradition.........!! (Thanks Zero Mostel - Fiddler on the roof)

Answer 8

Actually the reason is very simple

Back in the days when the first typewriters were invented they machines were very cumbersome and mechanically clumsy. However, typists became very adept at typing and the machines jammed as the keys weren't able to keep up with the speed.

So, the QWERTY layout was introduced for the sole reason of slowing down typists.

Over the years it has become the standard layout and too much productivity would be lost if professional typists had to learn another layout.

Answer 9

The keyboard was laid out by ease of use. The most used letters were right under the fingers, lesser used letters were not so easily available. Notice that X is in an awkward spot, it isn't used much. Like on Wheel of fortune - they always give RSTLNE in the end round-These letters are easy to find on your keyboard and given on "Wheel", because they are most used in speaking/writing. Hope this helps.

Answer 10

When the manual typewriter was invented, the keys that were used the most frequently (such as "e", "a", "r", "s" and "t") kept getting stuck together.

The keyboard was designed so that the keys that are used most often are seperated by letters that are not so commonly used.

Hope this answers your question!