Why is a keyboard the way it is and not just A-Z??

Hmmmmmm returns · 14th February 2012, 03:22 PM

Anyone know??

Dangly Ham · 14th February 2012, 03:24 PM

From wiki

Quote:

QWERTY ( /ˈkwɜrti/) is the most common modern-day keyboard layout. The name comes from the first six letters (keys) appearing in the topleft letter row of the keyboard, read left to right: Q-W-E-R-T-Y. The QWERTY design is based on a layout created for the Sholes and Glidden typewriter and sold to Remington in the same year, when it first appeared in typewriters. It became popular with the success of the Remington No. 2 of 1878, and remains in use on electronic keyboards due to the network effect of a standard layout and a belief that alternatives fail to provide very significant advantages.[1] The use and adoption of the QWERTY keyboard is often viewed as one of the most important case studies in open standards because of the widespread, collective adoption and use of the product, particularly in the United States.

super-niall · 14th February 2012, 03:24 PM

Cause we've all got spanner fingers.

Noddy · 14th February 2012, 03:26 PM

Wasn't it to stop the keys getting clogged up? Nothing's changed there then.

Occam's Razor · 14th February 2012, 03:27 PM

The Dvorak keyboard layout is supposed to be easier to learn and faster to type on, but it never caught on.

Hmmmmmm returns · 14th February 2012, 03:28 PM

Surely an A-Z one now would make more sense. Kids learn the alphabet, it would take people who use them regularly a while to get used to them but would make sense in the long term??

aly051 · 14th February 2012, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Occam's Razor

The Dvorak keyboard layout is supposed to be easier to learn and faster to type on, but it never caught on.

Imagine typing on that when you're used to the current way, nightmare.

Reminds me of when I was at school and during ICT classes people swapped the keys around haha.