
The Origin of QWERTY - fauria
http://hackaday.com/2016/03/15/the-origin-of-qwerty/
======
burgessaccount
What is interesting to me is that when adapting the keyboard to other
languages, they often didn't attempt to change the layout for the keys used
most in those languages.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTY#International_variants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTY#International_variants)
I guess this makes sense in terms of international standardization, but it
also to me seems to be a good argument for "no one thought this through very
hard before adapting it."

~~~
ben_bai
On a german keyboard Z and Y are switched, and all the punctuation character
are all wrong. So much better to program with a US keyboard than a german one!

~~~
burgessaccount
Haha, that does sound deeply annoying. But makes sense given German words. I
really don't know which is better, to standardize or personalize...

~~~
webjprgm
It's kinda like adjusting the seat position in a car. If you could have each
individual user's preferences saved somewhere and applied to every
car/computer when you sit down to use it, then personalization wins.

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brendangregg
Pretty interesting history, and a compelling theory. Although, I don't think
we'll see the end of articles like these until someone digs up a direct
reference. Here's a direct reference from 1875:

[https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=patentimages.storage.goog...](https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pdfs/US207559.pdf)

Amazing what's online these days. Unfortunately Sholes doesn't explain the
origin of QWERTY in that patent. Does any? How about a copy of Scientific
American at the time, or other publications, books, or journals that now may
be scanned and online?

The theory mentioned here is that QWERTY was influenced by telegraph and morse
code. It's from this paper:

[http://kanji.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~yasuoka/publications/PreQ...](http://kanji.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~yasuoka/publications/PreQWERTY.html)

I don't see a direct reference there either.

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mherrmann
I use QFMLWY which according to
[http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/carpalx/?full_optimization](http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/carpalx/?full_optimization)
is even better than Dvorak and Colemak. It helped me greatly reduce my wrist
pain. Once you get used to it, you immediately feel how it requires much less
effort than QWERTY. Drawbacks are that it replaces nearly all keys so takes
some getting used to. I went cold turkey (ie. simply stopped using QWERTY) and
it took me about a month. Another drawback is that I'm now slow to type on
QWERTY and others can't use my computer unless they change the keyboard
layout. So it's not suited very well for when you do a lot of pair
programming, for example. I'm really happy with it though, since I mostly work
on my own. If anyone wants to get started, I can send you instructions for how
to configure each OS (Windows, Mac, Linux) for that layout.

~~~
rocky1138
I love how the last line of your reply reads like an advertisement from the
1800s: 'for useful information on configuration of this amazing keyboard
layout for each OS (Windows, Mac, and Linux), reply by mail.'

That being said, Linux please.

~~~
mherrmann
There you go:
[https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xipilk620vvmd7x/AAAzukU8JoZRARZ0T...](https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xipilk620vvmd7x/AAAzukU8JoZRARZ0TIciXXZua?dl=0)
:) I used it on Ubuntu

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pklausler
A long time ago, I ran an amateur experiment that applied an evolutionary
algorithm to the problem of keyboard layout, using a simple function of finger
motion across a corpus of English language text and source code. The best-
performing evolved layouts all had the common vowels on the home row's left
side and the common consonants on its right side. So I stuck with Dvorak for
my own use, since it's easily available everywhere.

~~~
beefman
Hi! Why did you take it down?

[http://www.klausler.com/evolved.html](http://www.klausler.com/evolved.html)

I wrote about it in 2002

[http://lumma.org/microwave/#2002.07.09](http://lumma.org/microwave/#2002.07.09)

(I learned QWERTY in 1991, switched to Dvorak in 2001, and never looked back.
Which is good because switching cold-turkey caused extinction of my QWERTY
ability.)

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dheera
I use Dvorak because _default_ installations of most OSes carry it, including
Linux, Windows, MacOS, ChromeOS, and Android. I realize there are potentially
better alternatives but it would then become a pain if you have to use someone
else's machine.

~~~
raihansaputra
I'm curious about using dvorak on smartphones, isn't QWERTY is more suitable
for use on smartphones due to larger distance between most used characters?
dvorak tends to clump them and would make more chance to mistake on
smartphones, doesn't it? (i used qwerty and dvorak before on android, now
using MessageEase fulltime and dvorak on computers)

~~~
dheera
I think the distance makes little difference on phones especially with 5-inch
and larger screens where it's reasonably easy to peck accurately.

What's most important is that the phone layout matches what you use most
frequently on computers. If you use Dvorak all the time on computers it's a
lot more convenient for your memory if your phone layout matches that as well.

~~~
wodenokoto
I would disagree. When typing Danish on a phone I started realizing how many
different words differs by a single neighboring keystroke on qwerty in Danish
and how this is actually a big cause of typos.

Qwerty really does shine on a smartphone, for English.

~~~
dheera
But that's because you can also touch-type in QWERTY, correct? For someone
like me who only learned Dvorak and never learned QWERTY to begin with, it's a
chore to hunt for all the letters.

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melling
If you're interested in exploring alternative layouts, I have some references
here:
[https://github.com/melling/ErgonomicNotes/blob/master/keyboa...](https://github.com/melling/ErgonomicNotes/blob/master/keyboards.org#alternate-
keyboard-layouts)

~~~
tyleo
I recently switched to the programmer dvorak keyboard layout and haven't
looked back since. I switched in December and purchased keyboard stickers from
Amazon ([http://amzn.com/B00IPGZC54](http://amzn.com/B00IPGZC54)). I also
practiced on Keybr ([http://www.keybr.com/](http://www.keybr.com/)) for about
2 hours a day until I had practiced 20 hours. Luckily I was on vacation so I
didn't have to worry about how I would work. After my initial 20 hours of
training I had already reached 30 words per minute which was suitable for
getting back to work. I now type at a blistering 70 words per minute compared
to the 50 words per minute I would reach on qwerty. In my personal opinion
though, most of the speed comes from the practice I have done on Keybr rather
than the switch in keyboard layout.

~~~
copperx
I always read glowing reports from switching to Dvorak, so here's my
experience:

I switched to the Dvorak keyboard about 5 years ago. Previously, I typed 110
WPM on QWERTY, and while learning Dvorak my WPM rose quickly from 10 to 70
WPM, but remained there. I now type at about 80 WPM, but even with practice I
have not been able to regain my previous speed. I can switch to Qwerty, but my
WPM has gone down too -- it's about 80 WPM now.

I realized that I had been achieving 110 WPM because I had unconventional hand
positions (I never learned to type "correctly", so it just developed).
Learning and staying with the "correct" hand positions brought down my WPM.
Previously, my hands flew around the keyboard, but now they're mostly
stationary on the home row. The positive outcome of this is that I can now use
non-traditional keyboards such as the Kinesis, where I cannot move my hands
around while typing.

I don't regret going to Dvorak because of the great comfort it brings to my
tired hands, but I do miss the speed from time to time.

~~~
douche
Is there really a need for blistering-fast WPM? Outside of transcribing/typing
up documents (and how many people really do that anymore?) is there any real
point to it?

I don't know that I manage more than a sentence a minute - the limiting factor
there isn't my typing speed, it's thinking through and editing what I'm going
to say. Programming, it's probably on the order of 10-15 characters a line,
and unless I'm doing mindless boilerplate, that line takes a minute or two to
think through.

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kleer001
I find that while I love the variation of keyboard layouts and keyboard types,
what really slows me down in the composition. I'm trying to say that for me
the real bottleneck is having something to say rather the speed of getting it
out.

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julian85
I'm using NEO2, which is pretty solidly researched

