Why did they make the keyboard all skrewed up?

[a.k.a. Skarr~~]

OK, the keyboard looks like this:

QWERTYUIOP
ASDFGHJKL
ZXCVBNM

Why didn't they just make it like this like any NORMAL person would?

ABCDEFGHIJK
LMNOPQRS
TUVWXYZ

Why?

[Shnay]

The Qwerty keyboard:

"Pronounced kwer-tee, refers to the arrangement of keys (http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/Q/key.html) on a standard English computer keyboard (http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/Q/keyboard.html) or typewriter. The name derives from the first six characters (http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/Q/character.html) on the top alphabetic line of the keyboard.

The arrangement of characters on a QWERTY keyboard was designed in 1868 by Christopher Sholes, the inventor of the typewriter. According to popular myth, Sholes arranged the keys in their odd fashion to prevent jamming on mechanical typewriters by separating commonly used letter combinations. However, there is no evidence to support (http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/Q/support.html) this assertion, except that the arrangement does, in fact, inhibit fast typing."

[BLACKHEART]

If they made it ABC...etc then it would be really awkward typing don't you think?

[Jedigreedo]

I dunno, if that's how we learned to type this would seem more awkward. ;) One interesting thing I find about that article is there are still alphabetical line-ups on the keyboard. There's 'GH', 'JKL', and 'OP'.

[EightOh]

Maybe you'd prefer the Dvorak?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 [ ]
' , . P Y F G C R L / =
A O E U I D H T N S -
; Q J K X B M W V Z

It was introduced in the '30s, and though claims were made regarding its superiority (by Dvorak himself... what a shock), it mostly boils down to personal preference. Those who use it say it's more "comfortable."

Personally, I'm way too accustomed to the QWERTY to switch now.

[TimTwoFace]

When I first learned the keyboard at age 7, I thought the same thing - the keyboard looks really messed up. It was so different from my "SPEAK AND READ" toy, where the letters were all lined up alphabetically.

That said, I got used to the new keyboard fairly quickly, and now, I couldn't imagine it any other way. It's all about adaption. Humans are good at it. :)

-Tim

[The Lizard]

I also though it was messed up, but I memorized it now, so I wouldn't want it to change.



-The Lizard :D

[Shnay]

Maybe you'd prefer the Dvorak?
I think I heard somewhere that some people could get up to a few hundred words per minute on the Dvorak, but I might be wrong.

Anyway, yeah, like everyone else I'm far too accustomed to the qwerty keyboard to use anything else now. Once you learn it, Skarr, typing on it will seem totally natural.

[Joe Mama]

I don't know what ya'll mean this is what mine looks like

poiuytrewq
lkjhgfdsa
mnbvcxz
/.,0987654321 http://forums.toonzone.net/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Nightflower]

I think I heard somewhere that some people could get up to a few hundred words per minute on the Dvorak, but I might be wrong.

Anyway, yeah, like everyone else I'm far too accustomed to the qwerty keyboard to use anything else now. Once you learn it, Skarr, typing on it will seem totally natural.
Same here. And I can type pretty quickly on the good ol' qwerty one. :D

[StarScream64]

Yeah, I mean we;ew all prtty axxustomed to old qwerty ny now. Can't imahine that changing noe.
(I typed all that without looking, believe it or not. Now, if the keyboard was arranged in some logical fashion, then there probably wouldn't be so many typos there.)

[The Falcon]

you typed that withought lookikng at the keybvorad? usually i type persfect withhen very i don't lik at the kdweyboardf

falvapoin

[Joe Mama]

Me too/

That was pretty good for a short sentence. http://forums.toonzone.net/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[a.k.a. Skarr~~]

Actually, Jedi, if you notice, "F" comes before "GH", which makes 3. "CDE" also line up vertically, and "MN" line up backward.

[Slash Tompson]

That's a good observation, Skarr. The cde thing. Didn't notice it before. But I was wondering qwerty seems to be lined up kinda randomly regardless. Is there a method to this madness?

[SlyBoy]

O soat zit jvtkzx!

http://forums.toonzone.net/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Joe Mama]

LOL What?!!?!? http://forums.toonzone.net/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Jaguar]

i can type without looking at the keyoborad. o
'm doing it now and i;M [retty gppd at it
as uou vawm [;amly see.

[Joe Mama]

Well I guess I'm yous'd to typing like/ this I'm typing with my eyes closed and I thingk I'm doing fine.

Oh, and thanks Jaguar for giving me something to put in my Signature. http://forums.toonzone.net/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Elven Moon]

Sp mpw we're typing without looking eh? Coolness! Yes, I am doing it, folks! Hehehehe! Rowr! I could do this all day!

[sandwichman]

I cam type without lopoking@!! I feel oddlt exciterm, but stranfket dukk at the sane tume. :( Oj well, back to my stamop collection! [/no eyes]

[Animation Otaku]

Typing without looking at your keyboard is one of the easiest things in the world, and anyone who makes mistakes at it is a big stupid ugly morin and should be locked up in a room for the rest of their life.

Wpw, I think I did pretty good typing that, wouldn't you agree with me, guys?

[The Falcon]

nope. you spelled "morin" incorrectly. it's "moron"

Falcon

[Proteus3]

I think I heard somewhere that some people could get up to a few hundred words per minute on the Dvorak, but I might be wrong.

Anyway, yeah, like everyone else I'm far too accustomed to the qwerty keyboard to use anything else now. Once you learn it, Skarr, typing on it will seem totally natural.

According to this (http://sominfo.syr.edu/facstaff/dvorak/blackburn.html), the world record holder before Guiness pulled that title could type at 150 words per minute. That's pretty impressive. She used a Dvorak keyboard.

Both Straight Dope (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_248.html) and Slate (http://slate.msn.com/id/2061547/) both have pretty good articles on the Dvorak and QWERTY keyboards. It seems the speed increase isn't that great, though the Dvorak does make a lot of sentences easier to type and, if you don't already know how to use a QWERTY, is easier to learn. As for me, I'm too used to the QWERTY to switch over to anything else too. If you don't now how to use a QWERTY, then I recommend that over a Dvorak. Even if a Dvorak is faster, you are not going to be able to use it in other places, i.e. library computers, and will have to resort to peck and hunting in other terminals or typewriters. As others have said, once you get used to a QWERTY, it feels natural.

[Squall]

I remember learning back in 7th Grade (when I learned how to type) in my typing class that there was a psuedo-logic to the QWERTY keyboard: First, it keeps as much separation as possible between letters that are used often, and it takes into account that your index and middle fingers are longer than the other fingers, and can be used to type letters faster -- thus, letters that appear more often appear towards the middle (but separated by letters that don't appear as often at the same time). That's why letters like Q, X, and Z are in the corners of the arrangement. Of course, the system isn't perfect (G and H, which are used less often than R, S, and T, for example, ended up in the dead middle of the keyboard), but, if you look carefully at the QWERTY keyboard, you can see the imperfect attempt to use this design in the keyboard arrangement.

My question is, are keyboards for other similar alphabet languages (like French, Spanish, Italian, etc.) using the QWERTY keyboard, or do they have their own keyboards? I also wonder what a keyboard for Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hebrew, Arabic, etc. must look like...

:D

[stiches]

If they make a ABC keyboard it should be sold by AOL..............
















:p

[Jedigreedo]

Actually, Jedi, if you notice, "F" comes before "GH", which makes 3. "CDE" also line up vertically, and "MN" line up backward.

Ah yea, forgot about the F. If you're counting odd ways too, in a L-form (well a slanted L..) theres IJKL

Actually.. if you don't count the E and I being above the rest, all in a 'row' there's DEFGHIJKL. Coincidence the only two letters that are above the line are E and I? (A, E, I, O and U)

[DianaGohan]

Ironic they would have all the vowels (even Y if you would include it) on the first line and have on the second. Well not really ironic but intresting to point out.

[BLACKHEART]

I can type like 75 words a minute if you care!

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

There are lots of urban legends about how the keyboard layout happened the way it did (the mechanical relay delay story and the "separating commonly used letters" story), although I'm not sure anybody knows the real reasons for sure except for the inventor of the keyboard, a Mr. Joseph Qwertyuiop :).

I do think usability studies have been done which show that keyboard novices can be taught to touch type any arbitrary keyboard layout in roughly the same amount of time, from "ABCDE" to "QWERTY" to a random mix to Dvorak (and if I had to guess where I read this, I'd guess that it was in Donald Norman's The Design of Everyday Things (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0465067107/qid=1063656718/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/102-3054034-1361728)).

Originally posted by Squall
My question is, are keyboards for other similar alphabet languages (like French, Spanish, Italian, etc.) using the QWERTY keyboard, or do they have their own keyboards? I also wonder what a keyboard for Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hebrew, Arabic, etc. must look like...

I know there are specialized French keyboards, at least, but I thought the major difference between those and regular English ones were the placement of the special symbols. I think they also make it easier to type accent marks on letters because they use them more than English-speakers do. (Side note: OK, after starting this post, I searched for "French Keyboard" on Google and found that the French have a slightly different layout for their keyboard (http://www.goucher.edu/library/decker/helpfiles/frkeyboardmap.htm), probably done solely so they could make snooty looks and spit derisively when a gauche English-typist sits down at one of their computers and fails to touch-type correctly.) It is left as an exercise for the reader to determine if Italian or other European languages have specialized keyboard layouts.

I also know that Chinese and Japanese keyboards are just regular QWERTY ones, except that the keys have secondary labels to assist typing in Asian characters phonetically, using one of a few different methods. I believe the character entry for Korean is similar. Hebrew is an alphabetic language (vs. the symbolic Chinese), so I think Hebrew keyboards and input methods are closer to English than Chinese. Not really sure about Arabic, though I thought it was alphabetic also.

I do know that MacOS X provides multiple-language support built-in and easily toggle-able if you know where to look. This makes for some wonderful surprises when you start typing blindly at, say, a laptop your wife has been using in Chinese input mode. It is pretty cool to watch someone searching Google (http://www.google.com/) in Chinese, though.

-- Ed/Ace

[rurifan115]

Windows allows for easy switching if you know what you're doing...

Just goto the Control Panel, Select Regional Settings, and change your "language" to US-Dvorak.