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Q W E R T Y. For anyone who doesn’t live under a rock, this string of letters will immediately ring a bell – it’s the first six keys on the top row of our keyboards! The QWERTY keyboard layout is so ingrained into our society that using it feels like second nature. But have you ever wondered, “Why QWERTY?”
Christopher Sholes, an American newspaper editor and printer, devised the QWERTY layout in the early 1870s. The original layout was just two rows of characters arranged like the following:
- 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
If we knew nothing about keyboards or computers, this layout makes perfect sense. After all, the letters are ordered alphabetically from left to right! But as anyone who has tried to search anything on a TV would tell you, using an alphabetized keyboard is a horror… Over the next several decades, Sholes adjusted the layout to get what we are familiar with today:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - =
Q W E R T Y U I O P [ ] \
A S D F G H J K L ; '
Z X C V B N M , . /
The science behind the QWERTY keyboard is the concept of bigrams: “a pair of consecutive written letters.” Rather than alphabetizing letters, they are positioned so that your fingers don’t have to move much when writing actual words and sentences. For example, the most common bigram is “TH,” so the T and H keys are placed diagonally next to each other so that both can be easily reached using just our left index finger!
But don’t get led into believing that the QWERTY layout is the most efficient keyboard layout (it loses out to the Colemak layout). In fact, the QWERTY layout is intentionally designed to slow down our typing by spacing out commonly used keys like E, T, A, O, I, and N. This feature was important when typewriters were still a thing, as typing too fast may cause the typewriter to jam. The only reason the QWERTY layout is still used today is because it is the most common layout that we are all familiar with.
When I learned about the history and science of the QWERTY keyboard layout in high school, I was amazed. Even something as simple as the arrangement of keys on a keyboard has a rich history and a whole field of science behind it. So, after learning more about the QWERTY keyboard layout, I urge you to start questioning everything around you and ask if it really is as simple as it appears. For example, why do we celebrate Halloween?
QWERTY was designed to SLOW DOWN OUR TYPING??? You're telling me I could have saved so much time if the keyboard was designed differently?? I wish whoever invented the computer just used an alphabetical keyboard because I remember STRUGGLING in middle school learning how to type efficiently with those keyboard covers. Now I can't use an alphabetical keyboard at all, and that makes me sad that I will always conform to QWERTY.
ReplyDeleteVery intersting! I didn't know there was a such reason behind the keyboard layout. I used to hate the seemingly random layout when I was first learning to type, as it seemed like it made typing unnecssarily complicated. But now that I know that it's designed to optimize typing, I appreciate it but I wonder if there's a even more efficient layout now that we dont have typewriters.
ReplyDeleteWow...this is the first time I'm learning about QWERTY and its intended functionality. It's crazy to thing how the structure of our keyboards were modeled for typewriters and haven't really changed since. I wonder if there is a more optimal format to layout our keyboards like if having an additional row of letters so we could condense the columns would make our writing more efficient. Moreover, is it better to type faster or slower now for the sake of accuracy and quality? Very interesting blog!
ReplyDeleteIt is always good to question why things are the way they are. I thought at one point that the keyboard should be in order of the alphabet, but I do agree that society is so used to the QWERTY keyboard that it would be a mess to switch it now. On top of it, I don't think an alphabet keyboard would be as efficient as the QWERTY keyboard. Interesting post!
ReplyDeleteThis was such an interesting read! I've never really wondered why our keyboard layouts were set up the way it was, but just learning about how it came to be was really fascinating. I tried typing with an alphabetical keyboard before... and it was such a nightmare. No wonder the QWERTY keyboard layout is so much better to use!
ReplyDeleteMy grandma used to have an old typewriter, and I remember her being annoyed with me for pressinf two keys at the same time! I am honestly not super surprised that we continue to use an inefficient keyboard technique. People frequently remain stuck in their ways and love what feels comfortable.
ReplyDeleteHi Hai! I love how you took something as everyday as a keyboard and made it so fascinating. I had no idea QWERTY was designed to slow us down. The bit about bigrams like “TH” blew my mind; it’s so clever yet so practical. Now I’m questioning why we still use this layout!
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