Qwerty Keyboard Explained

Look at the first six letters starting from the top left row of a standard keyboard: q, w, e, r, t and y. These letters give the Qwerty, also known as the Sholes Keyboard, its name.

Invention Date

Charles Sholes invented the Qwerty keyboard in 1872.

Most Commonly Used Letters

The most commonly used letters on the Qwerty keyboard are found on the left-hand side.

Why the Left-hand Side?

Sholes realized that fast typists would cause the mechanical typewriters to jam. He placed the most used letters on the left-hand side to slow right-handed typists down.

An Interesting Fact

Stewardesses is the longest word that can be typed entirely by the left hand on the Qwerty keyboard.

Qwerty layout maintains popoularity

When computers and electronic typewriters were introduced, the touch typing method had long been established. August Dvorak introduced a keyboard that placed more commonly used keys on the home row in 1932. Windows, Linux and the Mac OS operating systems let users switch to different keyboard layouts.

References

• Typing Facts and Info
• Popular Science Keyboards