Qwerty

[souperzombie]

I have no idea why, but i feel like asking this ultra-random question!! :lol:

Why is QWERTY the first few letters on the keyboard?

Guess away. :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

[SpiderPumpkin]

Wikipedia has answers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qwerty) (not that I wouldn't have known it otherwise, but I can cite this way :D):
The QWERTY keyboard layout was devised and created in the 1860s by the creator of the first modern typewriter, Christopher Sholes, a newspaper editor who lived in Milwaukee. Originally, the characters on the typewriters he invented were arranged alphabetically, set on the end of a metal bar which struck the paper when its key was pressed. However, once an operator had learned to type at speed, the bars attached to letters that lay close together on the keyboard became entangled with one another, forcing the typist to manually unstick the typebars, and also frequently blotting the document. A business associate of Sholes, James Densmore, suggested splitting up keys for letters commonly used together to speed up typing by preventing common pairs of typebars from striking the platen at the same time and sticking together. The effect this rearrangement of letters had on maximum typing speed is a disputed issue. Some sources assert that the QWERTY layout was designed to slow down typing speed to further reduce jamming. Other sources assert the rearrangement worked by separating common sequences of letters in English. Ostensibly, the hammers that were likely to be used in quick succession were less likely to interfere with each other.

[souperzombie]

Wha? I thought it was because the-person-who-made-keyboards' because his faverout toon was the flowerpot men.
No. Seriously. I IS NOT JOKING. I read it in a book, called 'The Incredible Internet'. Yeah, its one of those Horrible science/history type books. But meh -o_-o

[Hammered]

Of course, the better question is, now that the keyboards are electronic, instead of mechanical, why don't they change them back.

[diginova]

Some people have. The fastest typists and a lot of secretaries use Dvorak instead. Other people... it's just like the uproar after Office '07 came out. People don't like change.

[SpiderPumpkin]

Of course, the better question is, now that the keyboards are electronic, instead of mechanical, why don't they change them back.
They probably originally kept them that way so that typists who were used to the typewriter "QWERTY" layout wouldn't have to adapt to a new keyboard layout when switching from a typewriter to a computer (and now that everyone is used to it, it's too late to globally enforce a change, I guess) -o_-o

[souperzombie]

Next time, ill try to make the question more detailed. *Slaps self on head*

[AtkinsSJ]

For some Computing homework, I found this pretty groovy keyboard, which is more like a pair of gloves, with only the fingertips. Each finger moves up, down, left or right to type a letter. Pretty cool and a futuristic, but horrendously expensive. Meant to be better for you to use, too. Though they would say that.