The Stuff of Genius - The QWERTY Keyboard

[avianmotors]

What are your sources? I was under the impression that, while it did have the initial effect of slowing down typing, the placement of the keys was done to minimize collision of keys that are often pressed together (like t and h). I have no references to back this up. Do you?

[SuperRockchic101]

typewriter

[sw201444]

inefficient? my ass

[Cr4pSnip3r]

I disagree, Qwerty > Alphabetical, there is something about the Qwerty keyboard...

[sw201444]

@Cr4pSnip3r amen

[yocbjone]

well, there is no point changing it now!

[andreasboy40]

hey hey

[MyStuff774]

Colemak, dvorak is great, but the Colemak keyboard is is great because it keeps many of the QWERTY elements. Like the letters C V for copy and paste is in the same spot as in qwerty.

[xLycosax]

TypewriteR

[thewii552]

i type on dvorak

[RadioactiveFlyFilms]

Sholes did not invent the typewriter. Rasmus Malling-Hansen did. Look up the Hansen Writing Ball.

[Decide85]

In Germany it is QWERTZ not QWERTY (-:

[Kaatins]

@Decide85 and in french its azerty

[siryouareaterd]

I type slow with alphabetical keyboards. really slow :|

[Goso321]

"We are still using this inefficient keyboard layout today, 140 years later" not me.

[thewii552]

@Goso321 me neither

[Rhythmisinhim]

@Goso321 What layout of keyboard do you use? Ive heard of people changing the keys up but i'm not sure how to do it. Do you?

[Goso321]

@Rhythmisinhim There are two popular keyboard layout called the Dvorak and Colemak. Although the Dvorak keyboard layout is much older than the Colemak's, I used because I find it easier to type in many other languages besides English.

[elel70]

hey hey

[Shroffff]

yh its only lasted because no one has bothered to change it and its too late to change it as when you in early teens you can basically touch type with little or no errors, maybe even younger if you dont get out enough.

the xbox dashbaord uses a abcde system and takes much longer to get used to than the ps3 which uses qwerty even with the 4 direction dpad/analog sticks

[Morahman7vnNo2]

The main reason why QWERTY stuck was because it became a standard, and here in America we don't like to raise standards. And Sholes did invent a more practical layout after QWERTY, but it was too late. QWERTY only be came the standard because salesmen liked to use them so they could easily type out "typewriter" and wow consumers!

[XZskY07v6]

DVORAK FTW

[JennyFenny]

I mean who cares if it's harder to use, we have all gotten over it and most of us learned how to use it. Now using it on a daily basis. Awesome.

[g0t3nks]

This video fails

[ChristianEvolution]

"hay hey"

[virgildog1950]

The QWERTY keyboard is faster, why would one make it harder to type to try and slow the typer down? Think about it; it doesn't solve the problem, the only real solution to typing to fast is to just consciously type slower.

We still use the QWERTY design today because not only is ABCDEF slower, but it also distributes the typing work unevenly between hands. That, and because no one has come up with a better design than QWERTY.

IMO, QWERTY is beneficial to humanity; i give him 3.5 stars.

-Mike

[neodbd247]

@virgildog1950 don't forget how commonly used keys (like "A")are placed where we use our pinky finger so we don't wear them out so fast

[virgildog1950]

@neodbd247 "don't forget"? I don't think that your statement is even true; where did you get your information?

[guest2424]

@virgildog1950 ABCDEF? no use DVORAK order, QWERTY is a curse. You can change your layout on your computer and re-order your keys. look up DVORAK on wikipedia. D,V,O,R,A,K is used to minimize the movement of your fingers and cause less stress and less typos and is the most efficient order. If you have a spare keyboard, you can practice.

[virgildog1950]

@guest2424 I had no idea that there was such a thing is a DVORAK keyboard; I'll look into it.

[JeanFrancoisAmadei]

@virgildog1950 What is faster isn't really the QWERTY (as French use AZERTY, German QWERTZ) but, as you said, it's more the fact they contribute the typing to work unevenly between hands

[FearedBliss]

@virgildog1950 QWERTY was made to slow down typewriters because the keys were getting jammed. Colemak is a newer keyboard layout that fixes the problems of not only QWERTY but also for Dvorak since it maximizes the use of the home row, but it also makes it easy for an existing QWERTY user and it takes advantage of QWERTYs progress by remaining compatible with keyboard shortcuts and programming symbols.

[g0rsk13g4n9st4]

He didn't space the most commonly used letters to make typing harder. Learn your history will you.

He spaced the most commonly used letters not to slow typing time and prevent jams - he did it to most efficiently increase space between common letters so they wouldn't jam every time pressed one after another. In electronic keyboards it helps as well - instead placing all the load of typing on one hand which is closest to common characters - it distributes the load evenly among two hands.

[eyreland]

Even with computer keyboards you can have situations where the computer is not able to intercept all the characters sent from the keyboard due to multitasking reasons.

The QUERTY keyboard is still more optimal if you are running a climate simulation or SETI or protein folding in the background...

[XmojotronX]

i demand he gets 5 stars for humanity!

[guest2424]

@XmojotronX google DVORAK

[stang4lyfe07]

a minute thirty-four?.... slackers

[Heartagramerz]

I love the qwerty keyboard... what's wrong with it?

[MadDogMeh]

I like the QWERTY keyboard better then if it was ABCD

[avlisk]

I remember typing term papers in high school on my Mom's 1930's vintage typewriter. Even as an unskilled, grade school touch-typist, I was still fast enough to always have the levers colliding and sticking together. I always assumed it was my lack of skill. Now I know I was just too good! Now, let's talk about carbon copies, because I bet a lot of folks don't know where "cc" originated.

[LeksServices]

@avlisk - My printer can print carbon copies. I betcha' there aren't many that can do that these days!

Replacement cost of this printer: At least $147.00. But it's cheap to use! XD

[cladimere]

i disliked this video because the presenter is getting really annoying...

[jorge10928]

this video gets two thumbs downnn

[cheetoman23]

you can type "typewriter" with just the top letters of your keyboard

[sia0190]

@cheetoman23

the german kaybord cant do THIS.

but the bus can swimm ;)

[Imprezaman555]

forgot what it was called but I hope that other efficient layout catches on enough so i can actually FIND A PLACE TO BUY A KEYBOARD THAT USES IT! Oh yeah Dvorak

[hord]

He changed the letters around to stop the keys jamming by putting letters which are not used alot together next to each other.

[milanvdv]

AZERTY FTW. XD

I don't know why it is the standard in my country. Why couldn't they also take querty. always if I go abroad i need to learn a querty board XD

[virgildog1950]

@milanvdv QWERTY, not QUERTY.

[milanvdv]

@virgildog1950

Srry for that stupid spelling mistake.

GRTS

[KillerAnt360]

Its also been kept like that because uncommon letters like Q and Z are in the outskirts of the keyboard.

[rwpock]

he did it b/c people were typing to fast and it was causing problems with the keyboard. it is weird though

[NESMASTER14]

wow, interesting, I've always wondered about this.