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Why Keys on a Keyboard are not in Alphabetical Order?

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In this modern age, almost all people are aware of computer keyboards. The reason is that we have to use computers in our daily life. We use computers to increase productivity at the workplace, we use the computer to connect to the internet, we use the computer to store huge amounts of data, we use computers to organize data, and much more. To work on the computer, we have to use the keyboard. When we see the keys on the keyboard, a question comes to our mind why keys on a keyboard are not arranged in alphabetical order? Here, we will try to get the answer to this question.

Why Keys on a Keyboard are not in Alphabetical Order?

Why Keys on a Keyboard are not in Alphabetical Order?

To find the answer to this question, we have to date back to the manual typewriters. At the time of the invention of the keyboard, the keys were arranged in alphabetical order. After the invention of the keyboard, the typewriters typed the words fast and it created ‘Typewriter Jam’ problems. Therefore, the person who invented the keyboard created the QWERTY design of the keyword to slow down the speed of the typists. He had arranged the keys at hard to reach spots to slow down the speed of the typists. By creating this design of keyboard, he solved the problem of ‘Typewriter Jam’. Students may also like to read about the difference between RAM and ROM.

Christopher Latham Sholes

Christopher Latham Sholes invented the QWERTY keyboard. After knowing the problem that was associated with the alphabetical order of the keyboard, Christopher Latham Sholes struggled for five years to create the perfect design for his invention. During these five years, he made lots of trial and error-arrangements of the alphabetical arrangement of the keyboard. James Densmore was the business associate of the Sholes. In 1873, he sold the manufacturing rights of this Type-Writer to E. Remington and Sons. After buying the manufacturing rights of this device, Remington made lots of adjustments in this device. At last, he created the essential layout of the modern QWERTY keyboard.

QWERTY keyboard

The layout of the QWERTY keyboard is different from the layout of the Dvorak keyboard (an alternative to the QWERTY keyboard). The inventors of the Dvorak keyboards had tried to minimize the distance traveled by the fingers on the keyboard. For this reason, they made sure that the alternative hands of the typists are on the consecutive letters as often as possible. For this reason, they made some changes to the QWERTY layout of the keyboard.

They had placed the most commonly used keys in the home row. While typing on this keyboard, if you want to hit these keys, you don’t need to move your fingers at all. On the left-hand side, they have placed all the vowels and some consonants. On the hand, they had placed the remaining consonants on the right-hand side. If you are using the Dvorak keyword, you can’t type enough words with one hand. It means you will have to alternate hands constantly while typing different words.

Dvorak keyword
Remington introduced the QWERTY pattern of the keyboard in 1878 and it is known as the most successful pattern of the keyboard. In the QWERTY keyboard, both upper and lower-case letters were introduced. With the QWERTY layout of the keyboard, you can type more words with your left hand than the right hand. It means that you can type thousands of words by using the left hand and you can also type a couple of hundreds of words by using your right hand. Relevant Posts:

Why QWERTY keyboard is more successful than the Dvorak keyboard?

The most desirable trait of the keyboard is to type by using alternating hands. It means when one hand types a letter, the other hand prepares to type the next letter. This thing makes the typing process faster and more efficient. This thing can create jamming issues. This issue is related to the Dvorak keyboard. On the other hand, if you are using a QWERTY keyboard, you will have to type a string of letters with the same hand. This thing increases the chances of involuntary repetitions. As a result, the speed of the typists decreases and it increases errors. As a result, the QWERTY pattern of the keyboards doesn’t create jamming issues.

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