Why Does Your Keyboard Start With QWERTY Instead of ABCD
We use keyboards every day to write emails, send messages, browse the internet and complete office work. Yet have you ever wondered why the letters start with QWERTY of following the alphabetical order of ABCD? The reason comes from the history of typewriters and the problems that the inventors of those devices faced more, than a century ago.
How QWERTY Came Into Existence
The QWERTY layout is named after the six letters, on the top row of a standard English keyboard. This design was created by an inventor named Christopher Latham Sholes. Christopher Latham Sholes worked on making typewriters better during the 1800s.
Early keyboards are different from typewriters. Old typewriters used arms connected to each key. When a key was pressed the arm hit a ribbon, on paper making a letter appear. If someone typed too fast problems could happen. The mechanical arms might bump into each other. Get stuck, which made the typewriter stop working. Then the person had to stop and fix the problem.
Why Were the Letters Rearranged?
Sholes and his team tried different keyboard arrangements to solve these problems. Sholes work eventually created the QWERTY layout, which does not follow the order.
People often say that rearranging the letters on the keyboard lowered the chance of the keys getting stuck. The story of QWERTY is however more complex, than the idea that QWERTY was purposely made to make typing.
By the 1870s the QWERTY layout was linked to typewriters that were made for sale including those made by Remington. As those typewriters grew in popularity the QWERTY layout slowly moved into use among typists.
How QWERTY Became the Standard
As typewriters moved into offices, businesses and schools more people started to type using the setup. As years passed the increasing number of QWERTY users made it hard, for keyboard arrangements to become popular. The more people who used QWERTY the harder it became for different layouts to take off.
The arrival of typewriters and personal computers further strengthened the industry position. Manufacturers kept using the arrangement letting people bring their existing typing skills from one machine to another.
Today QWERTY remains the layout on many computers, laptops and digital keyboards including those, on smartphones. Although other arrangements exist most users stick with QWERTY because users already know where the letters are.
A design that came about in the days of typewriters has stayed with us through many changes in technology. The time you type a message the layout of the keys on your keyboard quietly reminds you how an invention, from the 19th century still shapes the way we communicate today.