Current Events > What do you think of the Qwerty keyboard layout?

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To me it seems so genius. As someone who has known how to type for many years and can now type 100 words per minute if I want to, it seems like this perfect layout. I don't know how they came up with it but to me it just seems perfect. I think it would be so much slower if it was just the alphabet straight through.

Would a different layout be the same though? I mean if it was randomly shuffled around and we learned it that way instead, would we be just as fast as we are now? Or is there an actual genius to the qwerty layout?

Germany has a different key layout. Idk about other european countries, but when I lived in Germany for a little, the Z was where the Y was IIRC

as well as other changes
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Purely posted...

As someone who has known how to type for many years and can now type 100 words per minute if I want to, it seems like this perfect layout.

The funny thing is the qwerty layout was designed to slow people down. It was made at a time of mechanical typewriters, and using them too fast would jam them. So commenly used letter combinations are placed far away from each other so that people can't type fast and jam their typewriters.

But humans have adapted to this format and now people can type faster than they can talk.

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Theres a different keyboard designed to allow you to type as fast as possible. I forget what its called.
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Purely posted...

I don't know how they came up with it

Has to do with typewriters. Because you needed to use actual significant force to push keys down it was designed such that the most common letters were all within reach of the index / middle finger as those were the strongest fingers.

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markconigliaro posted...

The funny thing is the qwerty layout was designed to slow people down. It was made at a time of mechanical typewriters, and using them too fast would jam them. So commenly used letter combinations are placed far away from each other so that people can't type fast and jam their typewriters.

But humans have adapted to this format and now people can type faster than they can talk.

Myth.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/275537/

EndOfDiscOne posted...

Theres a different keyboard designed to allow you to type as fast as possible. I forget what its called.

Dvorak but another myth. There's no real evidence that layout actually works.

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markconigliaro posted...

Purely posted...

As someone who has known how to type for many years and can now type 100 words per minute if I want to, it seems like this perfect layout.

The funny thing is the qwerty layout was designed to slow people down. It was made at a time of mechanical typewriters, and using them too fast would jam them. So commenly used letter combinations are placed far away from each other so that people can't type fast and jam their typewriters.

But humans have adapted to this format and now people can type faster than they can talk.

I've heard that and I don't think it's true. Just another one of those things people on the internet made up and people believed it. Like how Chinese to-go containers are meant to be folded out to make a plate, or that "no more tears" shampoo is talking about tearing the hair, not that it doesn't hurt in your eyes.

MrK3V posted...

Germany has a different key layout. Idk about other european countries, but when I lived in Germany for a little, the Z was where the Y was IIRC

as well as other changes

Germany has QWERTZ and France has AZERTY. There is also specifically a French Canadian keyboard. I dont remember what the difference is. Ill go dig mine out and check.
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I can type 110 words per minute with 98-99% accuracy from a test I took a year ago. I also legitimately use a mechanical keyboard at my office job all day, even though its just a component of the software Im using...its not just entering in data or writing reports. So you dont have to be a fast typer for my line of work. But being competent helps.
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Heres a pic of a French Canadian keyboard (or Canadian Multilingual as Windows calls it):
Main differences are on the symbol keys.

Purely posted...

markconigliaro posted...

Purely posted...

As someone who has known how to type for many years and can now type 100 words per minute if I want to, it seems like this perfect layout.

The funny thing is the qwerty layout was designed to slow people down. It was made at a time of mechanical typewriters, and using them too fast would jam them. So commenly used letter combinations are placed far away from each other so that people can't type fast and jam their typewriters.

But humans have adapted to this format and now people can type faster than they can talk.

I've heard that and I don't think it's true. Just another one of those things people on the internet made up and people believed it. Like how Chinese to-go containers are meant to be folded out to make a plate, or that "no more tears" shampoo is talking about tearing the hair, not that it doesn't hurt in your eyes.

Older than the internet. My mom was taught that reason in typing class in the early 70s. Still a myth though.
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