Over the past few centuries typing information has become the quickest and most efficient way of presenting information; first through a type writer and now through our personal computers. What I always wanted to know, however, was where in the world did the QWERTY layout of keyboards originate? To me it always seemed like a jumbled way of organizing our alphabet but the reasons behind it make sense. Now a day’s most cellular phones even have adopted keyboards and in effect the QWERTY system which make it even easier to send messages via text.
It all started in 1868 when Christopher Sholes and company patented the first typewriter. This keys were set up in alphabetical order and at first seemed to make writing easy. Building popularity and becoming mass produced in 1873 typist began to encounter a major problem; the keys would constantly jam. The immediate solution to this issue was to have typist slow down but this idea in a way reversed the advantage type writers provided. Jams occurred constantly when letters close together such as S and T were pushed so Christopher Sholes went back to the drawing board.
After a few years of tinkering Sholes produced a new layout that was very close to what modern day QWERTY boards are like. It was created to reduce the amount of “travel” and also prevent so many jams from happening. By 1878 Sholes had received a patent for this layout and slowly, but surely, the layout caught on and became a huge success. Now people can type at lightning fast speeds and text even faster thanks to the work of Christopher Sholes.
I am so glad that this layout was created because it makes writing papers so much easier. I remember as a kid when I began using a keyboard I would use the “Hunt and Peck” method and thought never would I be able to type quickly but now I can’t imagine typing without the QWERTY method. Having a phone that has a keyboard especially has helped me type messages faster, so thank you Mr. Sholes, your work is appreciated.
Phil Ament. QWERTY Keyboard History. Troy MI: ©1997-2007 The Great Idea Finder, April 26, 2007. Online. Available: http://www.ideafinder.com . October 25, 2010.
I would have never thought to research this topic. It never really occured to me that the qwerty method makes typing so much faster. I guess I just took it for granted. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sarah, I had never even thought of this topic before or even wondered by a keyboard was set up the way it was. Now that you mention it though it is a little crazy! I am glad to know that there was a purpose behind it. Great research! Very informative and interesting. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat topic. There are so many crazy things in this world that we take for granted because we've never known it any other way; but I love to find the whys behind these things.
ReplyDeleteI love that this started with the typewriter. Essentially, this means that our modern computers would work just fine set up alphabetically, right (or would it also jam with a computer keyboard?)? If we had gone straight to computers and skipped the typewriter, our keyboard might be set up quite differently.
(btw, for your issues paper you'll want to look up citations like yours in your Penguin Handbook; some things are amiss).