Why are the letters on the keyboard arranged like this?
Keyboards have a very long history. As early as 1714, people from Britain, the United States, France, Italy, Switzerland and other countries began to invent various types of typewriters. The earliest keyboards were used on those machines at that time. On a typewriter whose technology was not yet mature. It was not until 1868 that the American Christopher Latham Sholes, the "father of the typewriter", obtained a patent for the typewriter model and obtained the operating rights. A few years later, he designed a practical version of the modern typewriter. Form and standardized the keyboard for the first time, now known as the "QWERTY" keyboard.
Why should the keyboard be standardized into the current "QWERTY" keyboard key layout? This is because originally, the keyboard of the typewriter was arranged in alphabetical order, and the typewriter was a fully mechanical typing tool. Therefore, if the typing speed was too fast, certain key combinations were prone to jamming problems, so Christopher Christopher Latham Sholes invented the QWERTY keyboard layout. He placed the most commonly used letters in opposite directions to slow down typing as much as possible to avoid key jams. Shores applied for a patent in 1868, and the first commercial typewriter using this layout was successfully put on the market in 1873. That's why keyboards are arranged the way they are today.
QWERTY keyboard key layout is very inefficient. For example: Most typists are right-handed, but when using a QWERTY keyboard, the left hand does 57% of the work. The two little fingers and the left ring finger are the weakest fingers, but they are used frequently. The usage rate of the letters in the middle column only accounts for about 30% of the entire typing work. Therefore, in order to type a word, you often have to move your fingers up and down.
In 1888, a public typing competition was held across the United States. Court stenographer Magalin demonstrated his touch typing skills according to a clear division of fingering, with only three out of 10,000 errors, which surprised everyone present. According to records, Magalin Galin's prize was $500. Since then, many people have imitated this kind of touch typing, and schools specializing in training typists have begun to appear in the United States.
Due to the emergence of touch typing technology, the keystroke speed was enough to meet the needs of daily work. However, 60 years later (1934), a man named Dvorak in Washington artificially made it possible to alternate between left and right hands. By typing more words and inventing a new arrangement method, this keyboard can shorten the training cycle by 1/2 and increase the average speed by 35%. The principles of DVORAK keyboard layout are: 1. Try to hit alternately with left and right hands to avoid single-handed combos; 2. The average moving distance of keystrokes across rows is the smallest; 3. The most commonly used letters should be placed in the leading key position.
More reasonable and efficient than the DUORAK keyboard is the MALT keyboard invented by Lillian Malt. It changes the original staggered rows of keys and allows more thumb use, making the "Backspace" key and other keys that are originally far away from the center of the keyboard easier to reach. However, MALT keyboards require special hardware to be installed on computers, so they are not widely used.
By the mid-20th century, the keyboard had another use - as the basic input device for computers. On the other hand, to this day, the "QWERTY" keyboard is still the most commonly used keyboard layout. This is a very typical example of "an inferior product defeats an advantageous product".