A Brief History of Keyboards

The common keyboard of today makes use of the QWERTY keypad layout. This layout, designed by C.L. Sholes, started over a hundred years ago. This layout was developed to slow down the typing speed, because typewriters back then were limited in the speed at which they can operate. The QWERTY layout was developed to have the most distance between the most used letters in the English language.

Other keyboard layout systems include the DVORAK layout and the ABC layout. The DVORAK system, unlike the QWERTY layout, was designed to have the least distance between the most used letters of the language. This type of system enables users to type faster, as opposed to the QWERTY system, which slows down the typing pace.

Even with the other layout systems, the QWERTY, for some reason, is the system that has stayed through the years. And in computer keyboards, the QWERTY layout is often used, with keyboards of today having additional keys, such as the function keys, the number pad, and the punctuation keys.

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