February 7, 2011

Your Keyboard Is Stuck In The Past

Filed under: Main — admin @ 12:01 am

I look at my state-of-the-art cell phone and I’ve got to shake my head: The teensy keyboard that appears on the screen is essentially the same keyboard invented in 1874. Is this modern technology or not?

The first mechanical typewriting device was patented in England back in 1714. Various gizmos appeared here and there for a few hundred years, but it wasn’t until the 1870s that people first saw the commercial production of typing machines.

Gholes and Glidden Typewriter.

The first “Type-Writer” was introduced in 1873 from the Remington company, the same company that makes the rifles. That device, called the Sholes and Glidden Type-Writer (shown above) it featured the QWERTY keyboard layout, which remains the most popular, if not only, keyboard layout used today.

The typewriter grew various new features over the years.

Electric typewriters appeared. Models that featured ways to backup and erase you text were popular.

The ultimate electric typewriter was the IBM Selectric, which dominated offices in the later part of the 20th Century. IBM sold off their typewriter division in 1990, however, because typewriters were a thing of the past: The computer took over.

The computer basically borrowed the typewriter keyboard. It inherited that keyboard from teletype machines, which used the same keyboard layout as the typewriter. The layout was standard because it was just easier to train everyone who wanted to type to use the same keyboard layout.

I suppose pianos also feature a universal keyboard for the same reason.

My issue with the keyboard is the QWERTY layout.

Rumor has it that QWERTY was designed to purposefully slow down faster typists. That’s because the old manual typewriters would jam if you typed to fast. Whether that’s true or not is anyone’s guess.

Computer keyboards are completely electronic. They don’t need to feature the same layout to slow you down. They probably feature the same layout because it’s familiar. But what about the staggered keys?

Look at your keyboard. The keys are staggered, not arranged in a grid pattern. Why?

Even worse: Look at the keyboard on your phone. Why is it staggered as well? It’s a touchscreen keyboard, basically a graphic image, and yet it’s laid out like a keyboard designed in the 1870s.

Isn’t that just nuts?

I don’t expect the keyboard layout to change, and I don’t expect the keys to stop being staggered. Like the floppy disk icon for saving a file, the keyboard’s layout and design a thing of the past. But will it ever change?

6 Comments

  1. Dan- Do you use or have you tried a Dvorak keyboard layout? Its very popular, a lot of people swear by it. I myself like querty, it just feels right to me to have popular keys spread out.

    And on the topic of keyboards, have you used a mechanical keyboard? Im sure you have as I think that was the standard in the past. But they still sell them and a lot of people say they are much easier to type on, requiring a much lighter touch to hit bottom.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=mechanical+keyboard&x=20&y=31

    Comment by BradC — February 7, 2011 @ 1:10 pm

  2. I used a Dvorak keyboard layout program on one of my early computers. I didn’t get used to it, though; just didn’t have the time.

    My writing PC has a mechanical keyboard. Das Keyboard. It wasn’t cheap, but I do so love typing on it!

    Comment by admin — February 7, 2011 @ 3:20 pm

  3. I have never heard of a Das Keyboard before it says that the keys are weighted differently which would make sense if you are a full time writer and are typing for hours at a time I would think it could make quite a difference.

    Comment by chiefnoobie — February 8, 2011 @ 3:56 pm

  4. I wrote about Das Keyboard a while back, almost two years ago: http://www.wambooli.com/blog/?p=136

    I’m still using that same keyboard, though the cap on the A key is almost rubbed off. For some reason, I’m really hard on that A key . . .

    Comment by admin — February 8, 2011 @ 4:03 pm

  5. Wow… I read that post the day you wrote it. I had heard of the Das Keyboard before, but your post actually made me consider buying one.

    I never allocated the cash for it though. I’m still curious as to how it feels.

    Comment by samus250 — February 8, 2011 @ 5:52 pm

  6. It feels marvelous!

    Comment by admin — February 8, 2011 @ 6:19 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.


Powered by WordPress