Why Do We Still Use QWERTY Keyboards?
“I’m tired of trying to do something worthwhile for the human race, they simply don’t want to change!” — Dr. August Dvorak, inventor of the DVORAK keyboard layout
The First Keyboard
The first keyboard was invented alongside the typewriter by Christopher Sholes in the year 1868. Its original purpose was to translate morse code telegraph messages to text on paper. Many telegraph operators had the ability to send messages over the rate of 70 words per minute. So, in order to type words that fast with the typewriter, it had to be quick and intuitive to use. There are three main properties of keyboard layouts that make typing fast achievable:
1. Home Row: The commonly used keys are close to where the fingers naturally lie on the keyboard to reduce travel time. The more common the character, the closer it should be to the fingers. The most used ones should be on the home row and require no travel.
2. Close Pairs: Common pairs of letters are close to each other to allow for “roll” typing. For example, “ER” is very quick to type on a QWERTY keyboard and it is a very common pair of letters in the English dictionary (called a bigram).
3. Alternating Hands: Single-handed typing is reduced. Unless a hand can roll two keys in sequence, which is typically only if the keys are next to each other, typing with one hand for multiple keys in a sequence is very slow. For example, typing the word “minimum” is done with just the right hand. On the other hand (no pun intended), the word “audible” is typed by alternating between the left and the right hand. Although both of these words are 7 characters, when alternating hands are used, they can be typed much quicker. A good keyboard layout will attempt to maximize the amount that words are typed with alternating hands.
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The Issue With the First Keyboards
The inventors of the first keyboard knew of the three above-mentioned properties. They even implemented them in multiple ways when designing the QWERTY layout. But, why are there also so many awful parts about their layout? The answer is that their first few models of typewriters had a glaring design flaw. If two characters were hit in quick succession to each other and they were both on the same internal type bar, it would cause the machine to lock up. Much like pressing all the colors at the same time on a multi-colored pen. So, Sholes and his colleagues had to implement the opposites of the properties described above to intentionally slow down the speeds at which people could type certain key combinations. One thing to mention is that they never explicitly explained why they chose the QWERTY layout. That is why there are so many misconceptions and interesting contradictions within the world of keyboard layouts. It is also important to note that “touch typing” was not yet invented. Most typists “hunted and pecked” at first, so there was less of a need to have keys on the home row when these layouts were being designed.
Common Misconceptions
One common misconception is that the QWERTY layout was chosen specifically to be complicated to reduce the speed people type, in general, to avoid jamming the keyboard. However, there is a subtle mistake in this idea. The layout was chosen to slow down the time that keys on the same bar were hit in succession, not all keys. In fact, as mentioned above, many strategies to improve the typing time were implemented in QWERTY, such as having “A”, a common key, on the home row; and having common bigrams like “ER” adjacent to each other (Which is actually a large source of debate because it seems like this would cause a jam. Historians believe that this is a tradeoff of speed that they were willing to take, but it still causes confusion).
Another common misconception is that the QWERTY layout was chosen so that the word “typewriter” can be typed by just using the top row. Although this can’t be proven nor disproven, many experts don’t believe in this premise.
Rapid Adaptation
After gaining a manufacturing business partner, Sholes and his colleagues aggressively pushed for market dominance. There were two main ways that they did this:
1. Marketing: They began marketing typewriters as tools for business, not just for translating telegraphs.
2. Training: They began offering training sessions in touch typing which made new clients familiar with the QWERTY layout.
These methods were incredibly effective and by 1898, both their typewriters and the QWERTY layout were the standards in the industry. Even though the newer typewriters were designed so they wouldn’t jam from pressing two adjacent keys too quickly anymore, people were so used to QWERTY that it was practically impossible to change. Every new typewriter company used this layout because that’s what their customers expected. This trend sadly continues on to this day, even though there exist multiple better alternatives.
Better Alternates
Since QWERTY became adopted as the industry standard for keyboard layouts, there have been multiple new proposed layouts that have proven to be better in almost all regards. There are countless alternative layouts, but the two most popular are DVORAK and COLEMAK. Compared to QWERTY, both of these layouts have improved typing speed, reduced finger travel (which can also help with hand fatigue), and are easier to learn from scratch. Both layouts implement all of the 3 properties of fast keyboard layouts described in the first section of this article and there was no longer any worry about jamming any keys.
DVORAK
The DVORAK layout was created by August Dvorak in 1936. The US Navy conducted a study that tracked a group of typists who transitioned from QWERTY to DVORAK. With only 52 hours of training on the new layout, the typists improved their speeds by 74 percent and their accuracies by 68 percent. With the QWERTY layout, only 32 percent of typing is done in the home row. But, with DVORAK, 70 percent of the typing is done in the home row. DVORAK reduces the amount of finger movement by 60 percent. DVORAK is set up very differently than QWERTY, so it can be quite difficult to learn if one is transferring over.
COLEMAK
The COLEMAK layout was designed in 2006 by Shai Coleman and it serves to be an improvement to both previous layouts. It is based on QWERTY and has the majority of the same keys in the same places. So, it is much easier to switch to COLEMAK from QWERTY than it is to switch to DVORAK. Also, “C” and “V” are in the original location, so we programmers can still copy and paste code like we have gotten so used to. According to the COLEMAK website, compared to DVORAK, it uses the home row 14 percent more, it causes your fingers to move 10 percent less, it reduces the same finger typing by 60%. However, there are also sources that say DVORAK is faster and more accurate. So it is pretty safe to say that these two alternative layouts are likely similar in speed and accuracy
Heat Maps
Below is a heatmap of the most common keys on each of these 3 layouts. This shows how well DVORAK and COLEMAK keep the majority of the key presses in the home row.
So Why Don’t We Switch?
All of this information in this article makes it seem clear that everyone should throw away all of their current keyboards and buy a new one in a DVORAK or COLEMAK layout. So why don’t we? Although there are very passionate alternative keyboard layout communities, they are a very minute minority. The main reasons that QWERTY is still dominant are:
1. Laptops: Laptops have build-in keyboards that have the QWERTY layout printed on them. Although it is possible to rearrange the keycaps and do the required software changes to get a new layout, it is quite a bit of work. Laptop manufacturers will always cader to the largest community to get the most money, so they will stick with QWERTY for a while.
2. Hard to Switch: The majority of people who use computers have spent years getting familiar with QWERTY and it is quite awkward to use a new layout. It often takes multiple weeks to get fully familiar with a new layout. This means that there will be a huge drop in productivity, so many people are not willing to take this step.
3. Hard to Collaborate: This is especially true in a programming setting where people commonly pair-program on a single keyboard. If a co-worker uses a keyboard layout that nobody is used to, nobody can work with them. This goes both ways. That co-worker will feel uncomfortable working on QWERTY keyboards, so he won’t be able to work with any other co-workers on their keyboards. This can cause many problems because collaboration is so important in an environment like that.
4. Not Helpful Enough: If one is a novelist or types for the majority of the day, then switching to a different layout may be a good idea for them because typing a little faster and more effectively can save them hours of their life. However, for someone like me who is a programmer, I spend most of my time on Google or reading code rather than typing. Typing is actually a very small part of what a programmer actually does every day. So the small improvements in speed and accuracy may not be worth the 3 other downsides that are in this section.
Should I Change my Layout?
This is entirely up to you. If you type a lot every day, have wrist problems, or just want to try something new, then an alternative layout could be excellent for you! However, it is important to note that switching can take a lot of time and effort to learn, and for many people, it won’t be worth it.
If you use an alternative layout or have opinions about keyboard layouts of your own, let me know in the comments. Thank you for reading!
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