DID YOU KNOW WHY WE USE A QWERTY KEYBOARD LAYOUT?

I just read this in the Serif newsletter, and just had to share:




Photo of my old Royal typewriter
You are welcome to copy this (private use only, not for inclusion on commercial CDs or collage sheets)

Why we use a QWERTY keyboard layout

The QWERTY keyboard layout gets its name from the first six letters on the top row of letters underneath the row of numbers.

Originally, early typewriters utilised an alphabetised key layout but this was a problem for a typewriter maker called Christopher Scholes. He found that the typebars often jammed when anyone was typing fast on his patented “Type Writer” and so, after six years, the QWERTY layout was invented. The layout placed commonly paired letters at opposite sides of the keyboard and was supposed to reduce the frequency of the typebars clashing, but initially it slowed typists down which had the exact same effect.

In 1973 Christopher and his business partner James Densmore arranged for E. Remmington & Sons (then famous for manufacturing rifle barrels and sewing machines) to buy the patent and start producing the Type Writer. The first model only offered capital letters and didn’t sell well at all. Five years later the second model (Remmington No. 2) was released and it offered both upper and lower case letters as well as the “Shift” key to alternate between them. Sales took off and the QWERTY keyboard layout became the industry standard.

Even though computer keyboards have no mechanical need to maintain the QWERTY layout,they do so as typists are used to the layout and any change would have a negative impact on productivity.

Hah! If, like me you use an ergonomic (split) keyboard and are a touch-typist, you'll know how irritating it was to have to relearn the position of the "B" key.

The Microsoft keyboard has the B on the left of the split, so you have to type it with the left forefinger. On a standard keyboard, you use the right forefinger. Thanks Bill Gates! (typical MAN - bet they never asked the secretaries!) It took me around 2 weeks to get used to the change.