QWERTY - Purpose

QWERTY (pronounced "kwerty" or "Q-werty") is the most common modern-day keyboard layout on most English language computer and typewriter keyboards. It takes its name from the first six letters seen in the keyboard's top row of letters. The QWERTY design was patented by Christopher Sholes in 1868 and sold to Remington in 1873, when it first appeared in typewriters. QWERTY - Purpose. Frequently-used pairs of letters were separated in an attempt to stop the typebars from intertwining and becoming stuck, thus f ...

Including:

• QWERTY - Purpose
• QWERTY - Languages other than English
• QWERTY - Alternative keyboard layouts
• QWERTY - Trivia

Read more here: » QWERTY: Encyclopedia - QWERTY

Frequently-used pairs of letters were separated in an attempt to stop the typebars from intertwining and becoming stuck, thus forcing the typist to manually unstick the typebars and also frequently blotting the document. The home row (ASDFGHJKL) of the QWERTY layout is thought to be a remnant of the old alphabetical layout that QWERTY replaced. QWERTY also attempted to alternate keys between hands, allowing one hand to move into position while the other hand strikes home a key. This sped up both the original double-handed hunt-and-peck techn ...

See also:

QWERTY, QWERTY - Purpose, QWERTY - Languages other than English, QWERTY - Alternative keyboard layouts, QWERTY - Trivia

Read more here: » QWERTY: Encyclopedia II - QWERTY - Purpose

Because modern keyboards do not suffer from the problems of older mechanical keyboards, the QWERTY layout's separation of frequently used letter pairs is no longer strictly necessary. Several alternative keyboard layouts, such as Dvorak Simplified Keyboard arrangement (designed by Drs. August Dvorak and William Dealey and patented in 1936), have been designed to increase a typist's speed and comfort, largely by moving the most common letters to the home row and maximizing hand alternation. The effectiveness of these layouts is disputed, but ...

See also:

QWERTY, QWERTY - Purpose, QWERTY - Languages other than English, QWERTY - Alternative keyboard layouts, QWERTY - Trivia

Read more here: » QWERTY: Encyclopedia II - QWERTY - Alternative keyboard layouts