Are you using the qwerty keyboard everyday? No matter it is mobile keyboard or computer keyboard. Actually most of us is surrounded by qwerty keyboards. Look at the keyboard, and check the first top row of letters, we will find out why qwerty gets its name.
Everything about Qwerty Keyboard Layout
After reading this blog, we will know what the QWERTY means, who invented qwerty keyboard, and why we are still using qwerty keyboard layout.
The Definition of Qwerty
The QWERTY means the first six letters of the keyboard. It appeared in the typewriter in the earlier. If your key board keys are arranged like this, then it is one of the members of qwerty keyboards. QWERTY is regarded as the standard typewriter and keyboard in the English language countries.
You may want to know who and how the qwerty board layout was created. Is it still the best design to type? If no, why not replace qwerty keys with other better layout? Then let’s move forward to know more details.
How Qwerty Layout was Created?
It is a surprising story why qwerty was invented. Most of us may think it is designed to achieve the fastest typing speed. However, the truth is exactly the opposite. The qwerty key is used to slow down the speed of typists.
In the 1860s, an American inventor, Christopher Latham Sholes was granted a patent for a typewriter with Glidden and Soulé on June 23, 1868. His typewriter can write at a speed far exceeding that of a pen. Unlike many invention in the 19th century, some were much slower than handwriting. And Sholes added many improvements in the next few years.
It is said that at first the letters on the typewriter were placed alphabetically. However, the user of the typewriter typed so quickly that the bars attached to letters became caught in one another. Because of being familiar to the alphabetical arrangement, the fast speed made the typist had to stop and unstick the type bars with his hands all the time. A business associate of Sholes named James Densmore suggested splitting up the keys to prevent the typebars from sticking together. Some people say the QWERTY layout was actually created to slow down typing speed, it worked by separating the most common sequences of letters, like “th” or “he.”
By 1891, Remington claimed that more than 100,000 of its QWERTY-based typewriters were in use across the country. The widespread use of QWERTY typewriters laid the foundation for the standard keyboard position of keyboard layout qwerty.
What are the common features of a standard keyboard?
As a standard keyboard layout, qwerty computer keyboard layout is characterized by the arrangement of keys for letters, numbers, symbols, and functions.
Alphabetical Keys
These are the main keys for typing letters.
Modifier Keys
These keys, like Shift, Ctrl, Alt, and Command, modify the function of other keys. For example, Shift + A types a capital "A".
Function Keys
Located along the top of the keyboard, these keys (F1-F12) are often assigned specific functions by software applications.
Cursor Control Keys
These include the arrow keys, Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down, used for navigating text and other documents.
Numeric Keypad
A separate block of keys with numbers and arithmetic symbols, often found on the right side of the keyboard.
Other Special Keys
These include the Esc (Escape) key, Tab key, Caps Lock, Enter, Spacebar, Backspace, and more.
Nowadays, standard qwerty layout keyboard also develops in different size. We can find keyboard from 40% to full size mechanical keyboard in the market.
What other keyboard layouts are there?
Although keyboard qwerty layout remains the standard, there are various of variations based on qwerty mechanical key board.
The qwerty layout was designed for English typing, for language from other countries, there is no accent or special mark in american keyboard layout. Like letters "é", "î", and "ç" in French. That’s why the qwerty keyboards differ in different lanuages and countries.
Here are some common examples:
AZERTY keyboards
The AZERTY keyboards are common used in Belgium and France. It switches the letters Q and W with the letters A and Z and moves the letter M to the right of L.
QWERTZ keyboards
Some keyboards for the Czech language use QWERTZ keyboards layout. They switch the Z and Y like the German version, but use "ů" to the right of L and ú next to P. The row that normally has numbers has the accents ě, š, č, ř, ž, ý, á, í, é. The user of the keyboard uses the shift key to make numbers.
Portuguese keyboards maintain the QWERTY layout but add the key Ç after the L key. The Spanish version has the letter Ñ, the Ç.
Italian typewriter keyboards use a QZERTY layout where Z is swapped with W and M is at the right of "L". Computers use a QWERTY keyboard with è to the right of P and ò to the right of L.
German
German keyboards add an Ü to the right of P—and Ö, Ä to the right of L—and switch the Z and Y keys, because Z is a much more common letter than Y in German.
Spanish
Spanish keyboards add ñ and Ñ characters to the right of the L instead of the semicolon and colon.
ANSI vs ISO keyboard
Specific layouts, like ANSI or ISO, differ in the size and shape of certain keys, like Shift and Enter. ANSI layout normally is used in American keyboard, while ISO layout is used in European areas.
Even for the same keyboard layout, keyboard with different lanuage has little difference according to language habits.
Q&A
Which layout is faster than qwerty?
Some people support Dvorak or Colemak layouts.
Dvorak keyboard was designed with more finger rest. This design reduces finger movement by gathering the most common letters in the near spots. Although some research shows the Dvorak layout can improve typing speed and accuracy. It appeared in the 1930s, which is late compared to the widespread of qwerty layout. It is so hard for people to get used to a new typing system. Colemak changes fewer keys from QWERTY (only 17 keys are different). It keeps common keyboard shortcuts in the same places, making it easier to learn than Dvorak.
Why do people still use qwerty？
When compared with other alternative layouts, qwerty keyboard might be less efficient because of more finger movement. Then why do we still use qwerty layout? I think there are 2 main reasons. Qwerty layout can be found everywhere needs a keyboard. Like laptop , ipad, or smartphone. For the past one or two handurd years, millions of users kept using qwerty keyboard. Its standard posotion is hard to remove. Muscle memory with QWERTY is valuable. After using this layout for years, our fingers automatically know where to go, making it tough to switch to something new.
As its long develpment in the keyboard, we can easily find types of qwerty keyboards in the market, from different size to different shape, especially in the area of mechanical keyboard.
What can help us improve effiency of qwerty layout?
Touch typing is a popular method where we can learn to type without looking at the keyboard by placing your fingers on the home row and using the correct finger for each key.
Practicing regularly can help enhance your speed and accuracy. There are many shortcuts we can use with a QWERTY keyboard to increase productivity and efficiency.
Conclusion
Although the qwerty keyboard maybe is the most common in the keyboard area, we can still find other keyboard layout for different needs. According to our languages and using habit, it is worth to pick a suitable mechanical keyboard to improve our daily efficiency.
Welcome to share the keyboard layout you are using~