Why QWERTY keyboard layout was designed?
Nowadays almost every pc and mac use QWERTY keyboard layout. Many of us think that if there are several designs available in the market, why we developed this layout? And what is the benefit to using this layout?
If you look back to the history, Christopher Latham Sholes developed the QWERTY design in the year of 1867. The first design was very different from the modern keyboard and much more similar to a piano. We get the modern design after the years of researches and development.
To slow down the speed of the typist the QWERTY keyboard layout has developed. Now the question is why they tried to slow down the speed?
In the early days, we use the typewriter to type any document. The paper was rolled in a roller and the actual printing work has done in the bottom of the page. If the typist makes any mistake they need to roll back the paper and find the mistake. After getting the error they need to roll the paper back down to the exact same position. Which is very difficult for a typist.
So the purpose to use the layout was to reduce error and it works perfectly. As a result, the typing training classes adopt the design rapidly and slowly it becomes a universal standard.
Finally, after the invention of the computer, the backspace concept was developed and the keyboard was customized by adding some additional keys. Nowadays almost every keyboard has 110 to 115 keys.
Although QWERTY is a universal slandered, there are many variants present in this layout. Canadian, French, Czech, Danish, Estonian, Dutch, Faroese, Greek, Irish and many more.
So, we can say that the QWERTY keyboard designed not to slow down the speed but to reduce the error of typing.image author: Petr Sladek