[Pmwiki-users] OT: Keyboard layouts

Nils Knappmeier nk
Mon Jun 14 11:10:23 CDT 2004


>One thing to remember is that frequency of letters in keyboard layout
>hasn't been an issue in standard U.S. keyboard design since at least
>the 19th century.  The QWERTY-based layout was developed then to 
>help prevent typebar (the metal part that impressed the glyph through
>the ink ribbon and onto the paper) jams on manual typewriters.
>Interestingly, this improved overall typing efficiency by reducing
>the speed at which people could type.
>
>People have become so accustomed to the QWERTY layout that this has driven
>computer keyboard design, even though the original reasons for a QWERTY
>arrangement have long passed.
>  
>
I've heard the somewhere that they wanted to introduce the DVORAK layout 
in the U.S.  in the  30s.
DVORAK (http://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak/layout.html) is optimized for 
typing speed in
english language. But the WW2 broke out and they needed many typewriters 
quickly. So they stuck
with QWERTY to not have everybody learn the new layout or something.

I don't know if that's true.

Nils

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