History of qwerty Keyboard
Typical Keyboard Layout
Qwerty is an abbreviated name for the “normal” i.e. most common keyboard used for computers, typewriters and cell phones. Despite of many believing that this type of keyboard was introduced by Lord Qwerty, its name is derived from the first six keys from the top left row. The layout was introduced and patented by Christopher Sholes. He lived in Milwaukee, USA and was a newspaper editor. He was not much of an editor but when it came to keyboards, he did excel!
The keyboard was designed in the early 1870s and patented in 1874. In the same year, Mr Sholes sold his invention to Remington – a company that produced typewriters. Because it was all about typewriters, the qwerty keyboard was designed so that the keystrokes made by the typist would alternate from its left side to right side – simply to avoid paper jam. Nowadays we don’t care about paper jams any more but the tradition must go on.
The alternative to the “normal” keyboard is a Dvorak keyboard. Even though some people say that Dvorak is more convenient, it has a limited use.
Related posts:
0 Comments