People only just realising why we use QWERTY keyboards rather than alphabetical ones

The QWERTY keyboard layout has been around since the 1870s and it's still the most common layout used on keyboards today - but many people are still puzzled as to why

By: irishmirror.ie

Sep 04 2024
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4136 Views

People only just realising why

The QWERTY keyboard has puzzled many since its invention in the 1870s, but there's indeed a method to its seemingly random configuration.

Initially featuring an alphabetical setup, newspaper editor Christopher Latham Sholes noticed problems with the letter arrangement, prompting him to invent a new layout.

In the beginning, back in 1867, Sholes and his associates Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soule, conceptualised a piano-like keyboard sporting two rows of characters sorted alphabetically:

- 3 5 7 9 N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
2 4 6 8 . A B C D E F G H I J K L M

Yet, after half a decade gathering user complaints about persistent key jams, Sholes rejigged the letters to better accommodate typists, culminating in an 1870 reveal of a four-line keyboard with vowels A, E, I, O, U, and consonant Y just beneath the numerals:

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 -
A E I . ? Y U O ,
B C D F G H J K L M
Z X W V T S R Q P N

Approaching what we know today, in 1973, Sholes's financier James Densmore sold the rights for the Sholes and Glidden Type-Writer to E. Remington and Sons, who showcased this formation:

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 - ,
Q W E . T Y I U O P
Z S D F G H J K L M
A X & C V B N ? ; R

Subsequently, Remington fine-tuned the keyboard design to create the contemporary QWERTY formation that we've become accustomed to, named after the sequence of the first six letters on its top row.

The experts at Tech Target explained: "The QWERTY arrangement was intended to reduce the jamming of typebars as they moved to strike ink on paper. Separating certain letters from each other on the keyboard reduced the amount of jamming."

But one Reddit user was left scratching their head as to why we still cling to the QWERTY layout, despite most typists now tapping away on electronic keyboards. They pondered: "Why do we still use the QWERTY keyboard? The layout for the QWERTY keyboard was designed to slow down typists when the mechanical arms could not keep up with the speed at which a practiced typist could go."

"It forced users to 'hunt and peck' and prevented the arms from jamming together when too many keys were pressed in too short a time. Obviously, this isn't a problem any more; so why aren't we using keyboards with a more intuitive, optimised layout?

"The QWERTY layout quickly became the standard for typewriters and has remained so for computers and other digital devices to this day. There are a number of variations of the QWERTY layout, depending on the language and region, but the basic arrangement of the keys is generally the same."

"One of the main advantages of the QWERTY layout is that it is easy to learn and use. Most people who have used a computer or typewriter are familiar with the layout, and it is generally considered to be intuitive and efficient. Another advantage of QWERTY keyboards is that they are widely available and relatively cheap, making them a popular choice for both personal and professional use."

One Reddit user clarified the misconception, stating: "QWERTY was not designed to slow down typing. The problem was that, with the old layout, typewriters often jammed when people typed too fast because common letter combinations were too close to each other. QWERTY spaced out those letters in such a way that typists could type faster without jamming typewriter."

Building on this, another chipped in by saying: "Use a system for a very long time, and people often get set in their ways and don't want to change it. For instance, look at the word 'knight', which nobody has pronounced that way for many centuries."

Delving deeper into the topic, a third remarked: "Or the calendar we use, which is a slight modification of the one the Romans were using 2000 years ago." They also added: "The problem is that everybody had learned to use that keyboard layout and if it got changed should everybody start all over learning to type, so it was easier to just keep it."

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