Why do we still use qwerty keyboards?

[Woodsey]

Because having it go A, B, C, D... would cut out the rhythm of typing, surely?

There must be more of a reason than because the buttons jammed - efficiency maybe? I mean, when you type you normally go left to right - thinking about it now it feels like a pretty even spread across the keyboard when I type.

You'd lose that if you went in order.

 

[YoUnG205]

Why try to fix what ain't broke people can type fast like this and are used to it.

 

[theultimateend]

If we were to change now, it would be like having USA instantly change to the metric system, or have England drive on the other side of the road.

The US never changes.

That's largely why we have so many problems. Quick sudden changes would fix a numerous set of problems but people in the US are too dramatic about it.

OH NOES I MIGHT HAVE TO LEARN A NEW SYSTEM OF MEASUREMENT! Yeah...and then you'd be on par with the rest of the world AND be using a much more efficient system.

QWERTY was made because of mechanical limitations of typewriters. If the arms for T and H were together, they would always stick and jam. That was the primary reason for QWERTY. Dvorak was mean to reduce the effort and increase the speed and efficiency of typing. So, with Dvorak, typing keys like "E" doesn't require you to move your finger off the home row. If you think about it, why the hell do we need our right index finger on "J" and our right pinky on ";/:"? There must be more often used characters that could reside under your right index finger. Here's a site that lets your compare the "efficiency" of the two systems by inputing any text you want. http://www.codeaxe.co.uk/dvorak/

So, why don't we use Dvorak? Governments decided it would be too expensive to train all their employees on a new system, so we're stuck with QWERTY until a whole bunch of important non-governmental groups decide to force a change.

Change = short term loss and longer term gain. Something the US as a whole refuses to ever do.

We want profit now damnit! That's probably why credit cards are so popular.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

If the keyboard layout would be changed I'd have to learn how to type using one all over again. No thank you, it already took me long enough too master the "QWERTY" keyboard.

Your cousin will learn to use "QWERTY" keyboards in a few weeks and in about a year she will be able to "play" a "QWERTY" keyboard just like playing a guitar.

 

[Klepa]

DVORAK was made to have common english words easily written. It's got all the vowels, and the most common consonants in the middle row, in an attempt to make most common words writeable without ever leaving the home row.

QWERTY exists because of the old typewriters. It wasn't meant to slow typists down, it was meant to lower the chances of jamming. The typewriters would jam a lot when two adjacent keys were pressed at the same time. Back then, the typewriters had these long bars that were a bit flimsy in that respect.
If you look at your keyboard, it sort of makes sense. Not a lot of words in the english language that are sporting (for example) fg,hj,kl,sd pairings.

It's a good system though. You don't often use Q,Z,X, which are all on your left hand's pinky and ring finger, which I would believe are the Average Joe's weakest fingers. So your left pinky's main duty is usually pressing A.

 

[GrandAm]

After researching it I realized it was because typewriters would jam a lot with a ABC layout so QWERTY was designed to minimize this. Now escapist, I for one can say I have never used a typewriter and am pretty sure they aren't a common occurrence at this point.

Actually I'm fairly sure the keys are arranged to make typing commonly used words faster.

Anyways, point is, we're all used to it.

I agree with both the OP and wrongsprite. I have taken typing in high school and college (computers were around, but not yet common in households). The reasons they gave in class was the typwriter not jamming and they were placed for the most common letters used often. Indeed from what I understand they also changed the hammers in the typewriter to match the Qwerty keyboard. Then they went to the ball in electric typewriters. Then stand alone word processers. All to what we have today, a universal machine that can function as a word processer through software.

Why not change it now? As pointed out it is what we know. Also it is presumed it is a more efficient layout to type with. All it takes is practice. Anybody with a month of half an hour a day of practice can type on it without having to see what they are typing.

IMO the reason anyone would prefer to not using it would be based on texting via a standard cellphone. Standard cell phones do not place their letters by qwerty, they follow the old landline phone standard. Smartphones do have qwerty. SPones are becoming more comman place, but still many people don't have them because they cost money. So it really depends on what people are used to, texting or typing.

Either way on a keyboard I believe qwerty is better for speed once learned. So it will be around for a long time to come. If it ever disappears it will most likely be because "they" perfect speach recognition software. Making a keyboard mostly unnecessary. Mostly. Just like they mostly come at night, mostly.

 

[BloodSquirrel]

Today I saw my little cousin typing on the keyboard in frustration. She does know her alphabet but still hasn't learned how to properly type. In frustration she asked me why do we still have QWERTY keyboards, and to that I had no real response.

After researching it I realized it was because typewriters would jam a lot with a ABC layout so QWERTY was designed to minimize this. Now escapist, I for one can say I have never used a typewriter and am pretty sure they aren't a common occurrence at this point.

QWERTY isn't just better for typewriters. It places letters based on how commonly they're used. If you'll notice, for example, all of the vowels are in easy places to hit. Letters like Z and X, which are rarely used, are placed in the hardest to hit spot for any of the letters. It's also designed to distribute commonly used letters across more of the fingers, which lets a practiced typist move faster.

Some people argue that other formats are faster, but nobody seriously considers ABC as the ideal format.

 

[MiketheBassMan]

Why doesn't everyone in the U.S. start using the metric system?

here here!

and wtf is up with fairenheits that is such an old measurement for temperature

Fahrenheit is a superior temperature scale for common applications because the easy to use numbers from 0 to 100 are all easily related to. You know that at 0 degrees it's very cold and that at 100 degrees it's very hot. Whereas in celsius, negative numbers are more common when it's cold, and it never gets much more warm than 40 degrees. The numbers just aren't as easy to work with. Now, in science, celsius and kelvin have their place. (Wouldn't want to measure expansion of gasses with fahrenheit.)

 

[mummy162]

I'm fine with QWERTY, I'm used to it and it would be hard to change.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Don't fix what isn't broke

 

[AkJay]

If we were to change now, it would be like having USA instantly change to the metric system, or have England drive on the other side of the road.

The US never changes.

That's largely why we have so many problems. Quick sudden changes would fix a numerous set of problems but people in the US are too dramatic about it.

OH NOES I MIGHT HAVE TO LEARN A NEW SYSTEM OF MEASUREMENT! Yeah...and then you'd be on par with the rest of the world AND be using a much more efficient system.

Yea, it's ALL our fault. And where the hell are you from, Mr. Perfect?

 

[WaywardHaymaker]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Besides, if we changed it now no one would be able to type properly.

 

[fenderstrat]

QWERTY was designed to slow down proficient (fast) typists to prevent key jamming on typewriters. Other layouts are less common, however DVORAK is one that is optimized to increase the speed of typing. For more info, try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout

I love how you linked to wikipedia but if you check the article on QWERTY keyboards it specifically states that rumor isnt true.

It's because if we switched it would result in us losing all the current typing skills the population holds. It's just too much hassle for little benefit. You'd have to retrain all typists and everyone's typing would slow to a crawl initially. The Short run problems are too numerous to make it viable.

You could say the same with switching from hunter gatherers to agriculture. terrible short term, great long run.

lets see... QWERTY is very efficient... a lot better tan ABC really... whats wrong with QWERTY? it works. its fast. and what would you change it for then?

 

[Nevyrmoore]

QWERTY was designed to slow down proficient (fast) typists to prevent key jamming on typewriters. Other layouts are less common, however DVORAK is one that is optimized to increase the speed of typing. For more info, try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout

I love how you linked to wikipedia but if you check the article on QWERTY keyboards it specifically states that rumor isnt true.

It's because if we switched it would result in us losing all the current typing skills the population holds. It's just too much hassle for little benefit. You'd have to retrain all typists and everyone's typing would slow to a crawl initially. The Short run problems are too numerous to make it viable.

You could say the same with switching from hunter gatherers to agriculture. terrible short term, great long run.

lets see... QWERTY is very efficient... a lot better tan ABC really... whats wrong with QWERTY? it works. its fast. and what would you change it for then?

DVORAK, which as far as I know, is a more efficient and ergonomic way of typing than QWERTY. You know, the system listed about 3/4s down that Wikipedia page?

The obvious problem about it would be how much profits would increase compared to now. There really isn't much point changing over if there isn't much of a difference between the two figures.