QWERTY is one of the least efficient keyboard layouts. It was designed to intentionally slow down typing by spacing common letters far apart, to prevent typewriter keys from jamming. It’s really not great for modern electronic devices, but it’s so widespread that it’s very hard to change.
Qwerty wasn’t designed to slow people down. when you account for practice time no layout is significantly different in the real world. The limit is how fast you think not how fast your fingers move.
This myth is one of my pet peeves. The rate of typing was not the cause of jamming.
The proximity of sequential typebars was the problem. Two adjacent typebars pressed simultaneously would jam at the very beginning of their stroke. To type adjacent keys, the first key would have to retract completely before the second key could start to be pressed. Otherwise, they struck eachother in flight.
Put 3 or 4 bars between sequential letters, and their “flight” paths only intersect at the very end of their strokes: you can start pressing the second key before the first has even hit the paper, because it will bounce out of the way before the second one gets close. QWERTY enabled good typists to have three or four typebars “in flight” simultaneously, greatly increasing their rate of typing.
QWERTY wasn’t designed to slow down typists. It enabled them to type much faster.
Your conclusions are correct, of course: It’s not great for modern devices where keystrokes don’t interfere with eachother. It’s just the oft-repeated “intentionally slow down typists” claim that drives me nuts.
QWERTY is one of the least efficient keyboard layouts. It was designed to intentionally slow down typing by spacing common letters far apart, to prevent typewriter keys from jamming. It’s really not great for modern electronic devices, but it’s so widespread that it’s very hard to change.
Qwerty wasn’t designed to slow people down. when you account for practice time no layout is significantly different in the real world. The limit is how fast you think not how fast your fingers move.
This myth is one of my pet peeves. The rate of typing was not the cause of jamming.
The proximity of sequential typebars was the problem. Two adjacent typebars pressed simultaneously would jam at the very beginning of their stroke. To type adjacent keys, the first key would have to retract completely before the second key could start to be pressed. Otherwise, they struck eachother in flight.
Put 3 or 4 bars between sequential letters, and their “flight” paths only intersect at the very end of their strokes: you can start pressing the second key before the first has even hit the paper, because it will bounce out of the way before the second one gets close. QWERTY enabled good typists to have three or four typebars “in flight” simultaneously, greatly increasing their rate of typing.
QWERTY wasn’t designed to slow down typists. It enabled them to type much faster.
Your conclusions are correct, of course: It’s not great for modern devices where keystrokes don’t interfere with eachother. It’s just the oft-repeated “intentionally slow down typists” claim that drives me nuts.
Thanks for the correction! I’m glad to have learnt something new today.