QWERTY - History of the Modern Keyboard

[Anup ( Shesh )]

Do you know what QWERTY is? Unsure - then just glance down at your
computer key-board. The first six letters at the top left of your
keyboard spell it out – QWERTY. Well, did you know that this
arrangement of letters, along with the other 20 on the traditional
keyboard were arranged that way to make the job of typing more
difficult? Let's find out why?

The first commercially successful typewriter was developed by
Christopher Latham Sholes in 1873. Originally, the keys were arranged
alphabetically. However, a problem soon arose. People became so adept
at using the keyboard that the keys would stick or jam when struck in
quick succession. In order to overcome this problem Sholes decided to
make the job of typing as slow as he possibly could. His solution? He
placed the most frequently used keys as far apart from each other as
he could. His keyboard became known as the QWERTY keyboard.

So, that is the reason why your keyboard is formatted the way it is.
Ironic, really – considering that every other aspect of your computer
is streamlined for maximum efficiency and yet you have to labor over a
127 year old system designed specifically for inefficiency. And
inefficient it certainly is. For one thing, QWERTY was not designed
for touch typing, which came much later. For keys that are not in the
middle or home row it is necessary to reach across diagonally. This is
difficult and leads to a high error rate.

Yet, there is a better system. Unfortunately, too few people are aware
of it. It is called the DVORAK keyboard system. It was designed by
August Dvorak in the 1930’s. Dvorak’s keyboard put nine of the most
used letters in the middle row of the keyboard. This allows the typist
to write over 3,000 words without the fingers reaching. In comparison,
only about 50 words can be typed on a keyboard without reaching on
QWERTY’s middle or home row. Another advantage of the DVORAK keyboard
is that the workload is much reduced. This is achieved by
redistributing the workload amongst the fingers. As a result the
fingers of a typist on a DVORAK keyboard moves about one mile per day
whereas the same typist on a conventional QWERTY keyboard will move
his fingers between 12 and 20 miles per day.

So, does the DVORAK system really improve performance. In order to
prove that it does August Dvorak retrained 14 Navy typists during
World War Two. The result? After just one month their work
productivity rate improved by an amazing 74 percent. Accuracy improved
by 68 percent. So, you would think that people would be jumping over
each other to switch over from QWERTY to DVORAK. Surprisingly, this
has not proved to be the case. DVORAK keyboards are readily available
on most computers and typewriters, yet – by and large – they remain
unutilised..

An even better keyboard than the DVORAK version is the MALT keyboard
devised by Lillian Malt. The Malt keyboard does away with staggered
rows, gives greater use of the thumb and makes it easier to reach the
backspace and other normally out of the way keys. Unlike the DVORAK
keyboard, however, the MALT version will require special hardware I
order to be installed onto your computer. Modern designs are also
available on both the DVORAK and the MALT keyboards that are specially
contoured to alleviate the physical problems associated with the
traditional typewriter style keyboard. DVORAK have also put out one
handed keyboards which give a free hand for other tasks while typing.


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isn't that an interesting fact??

Regards,
Anup Sheshadri