{"id":422699,"date":"2022-03-28T14:00:46","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T11:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/the-qwerty-keyboard-is-techs-biggest-unsolved-mystery\/"},"modified":"2022-03-28T14:00:46","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T11:00:46","slug":"the-qwerty-keyboard-is-techs-biggest-unsolved-mystery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-qwerty-keyboard-is-techs-biggest-unsolved-mystery\/","title":{"rendered":"#The QWERTY Keyboard Is Tech\u2019s Biggest Unsolved Mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2554d4edead\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2554d4edead\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-qwerty-keyboard-is-techs-biggest-unsolved-mystery\/#%E2%80%9CThe_QWERTY_Keyboard_Is_Techs_Biggest_Unsolved_Mystery%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;The QWERTY Keyboard Is Tech\u2019s Biggest Unsolved Mystery&#8221;<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-qwerty-keyboard-is-techs-biggest-unsolved-mystery\/#Dead_Mens_Secrets\" >Dead Men\u2019s Secrets<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-qwerty-keyboard-is-techs-biggest-unsolved-mystery\/#The_Story_of_QWERTY_as_We_Understand_It\" >The Story of QWERTY as We Understand It<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-qwerty-keyboard-is-techs-biggest-unsolved-mystery\/#But_Why_QWERTY\" >But Why QWERTY?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-qwerty-keyboard-is-techs-biggest-unsolved-mystery\/#From_Typewriters_to_Computers\" >From Typewriters to Computers<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CThe_QWERTY_Keyboard_Is_Techs_Biggest_Unsolved_Mystery%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;The QWERTY Keyboard Is Tech\u2019s Biggest Unsolved Mystery&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"type:primaryImage alignnone size-full wp-image-792719\" data-pagespeed-lazy-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/qwerty_hero_4.jpg?width=398&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1 400w, https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/qwerty_hero_4.jpg?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, 400w, 1200w\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/qwerty_hero_4.jpg?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"The QWERTY Mystery\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s on your computer keyboard and your smartphone screen: QWERTY, the first six letters of the top row of the standard keyboard layout. But no one knows how it originated, and the puzzle has been frustrating historians for over a century. Will we ever figure it out?<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Dead_Mens_Secrets\"><\/span>Dead Men\u2019s Secrets<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Almost 150 years ago, the typewriter <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/guides.loc.gov\/this-month-in-business-history\/march\/typewriter-production-began\">transformed the workplace<\/a> just as dramatically as the personal computer did in the late 20th century. Since then, through <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Path_dependence\">path dependence<\/a>, we\u2019ve been stuck with QWERTY, an odd layout once called the \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/60794\/60794-h\/60794-h.htm\">universal keyboard<\/a>.\u201d The QWERTYUIOP arrangement lives on billions of devices both analog and electronic around the world.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-792713\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/ibm_model_m_qwerty.jpg?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"The QWERTY keys on an IBM Model M keyboard from 1986.\" width=\"650\" height=\"263\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"imagecredit\">Benj Edwards<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The weirdest thing about the evolution of the QWERTY keyboard layout is that no one knows for certain why the layout took the shape it did. It\u2019s a genuine mystery, despite many <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/americanhistory.si.edu\/collections\/search\/object\/nmah_687313\">seemingly authoritative<\/a> sources writing to the contrary. In a comprehensive 1983 <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0020737383800108\">paper<\/a> titled <em>The QWERTY Keyboard: A Review<\/em>, Jan Noyes wrote, \u201cThere <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ears \u2026 to be no obvious reason for the placement of letters in the QWERTY layout, and doubts concerning its origin still remain.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-792705 size-full\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/typewriter_inventors.jpg?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"Photo portraits of the Inventors of the Typewriter: C. L. Sholes, Carlos Glidden, Matthais Schwalbach, and James Densmore\" width=\"650\" height=\"468\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">These four Inventors of the Typewriter\u2014C. L. Sholes (left), James Densmore, Carlos Glidden, and Matthais Schwalbach\u2014carried the secrets of QWERTY to their graves.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>We know who created the QWERTY layout and when it debuted, but the exact meaning behind most of the letter positions within the layout itself has been lost to history. None of the keyboard\u2019s inventors left a record explaining the layout before they died. \u201c<span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">The origin is obscure and the historians disagree,\u201d wrote Roy T. Griffith <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/aresluna.org\/keyboard-secrets\/qwerty-killer-patents\/1949%20Minimotion%20Griffith.pdf\">in 1949<\/a>. As a result, it\u2019s been the subject of <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/redirect.viglink.com\/?key=204a528a336ede4177fff0d84a044482&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fyasuoka.blogspot.com%2F\">frequent speculation<\/a> for the past 100 years. H<\/span>ere\u2019s what we do know about it.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Story_of_QWERTY_as_We_Understand_It\"><\/span>The Story of QWERTY as We Understand It<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The road to QWERTY began around 1867 when a Milwaukee-based <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>paper publisher and inventor named <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/type-writer.org\/documents\/typewriter-books\/The_Early_History_of_the_Typewriter.pdf\">Christopher Latham Sholes<\/a> began working on a typing machine with the help of Carlos Glidden, Matthias Schwalbach, and Samuel W. Soul\u00e9.<\/p>\n<p>Sholes wasn\u2019t the very first person to create a typewriter, but his innovations lead to the first successful commercial typewriter model in 1874, the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thehenryford.org\/collections-and-research\/digital-collections\/artifact\/56152\/#slide=gs-242540\">Sholes and Glidden Type-Writer<\/a>, commercialized with the help of businessman James Densmore.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to that, Sholes\u2019 first typewriter <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/patents.google.com\/patent\/US79265A\/en\">prototype<\/a> (circa 1868), included a keyboard that looked much like a piano\u2019s keys, with a nearly alphabetical arrangement. In 1870-1871, with the help of Matthias Schwalbach, the piano keyboard on the next prototype became four rows of push-button keys, but the keyboard still retained a nearly alphabetical arrangement.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-792702 size-full\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sholes_1868_patent_model.jpg?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"The 1868 Sholes, Glidden, and Soule typewriter patent model.\" width=\"650\" height=\"376\" data-crediturl=\"https:\/\/www.si.edu\/object\/sholes-glidden-soule-typewriter-patent-model:nmah_850123\" data-credittext=\"National Museum of American History (Public Domain)\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The 1868 Sholes typewriter patent model. <span class=\"imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.edu\/object\/sholes-glidden-soule-typewriter-patent-model:nmah_850123\">National Museum of American History (Public Domain)<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>What happened next is shrouded in mystery, as there are no surviving records that describe what took place. \u201cIt is positively known that Densmore and Sholes, laboring together, worked out the universal arrangement of the letter keys,\u201d <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/60794\/60794-h\/60794-h.htm\">wrote<\/a> the Herkimer County Historical Society in 1923\u2019s <em>The Story of the Typewriter<\/em>. \u201cJust how they happened to arrive at this arrangement, however, is a point on which there has always been much speculation.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-792703 size-full\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sholes_typewriter_1874.jpg?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"The original 1874 Sholes and Glidden Type-Writer\" width=\"650\" height=\"500\" data-credittext=\"Sholes and Glidden\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The 1874 Sholes and Glidden Type-Writer <span class=\"imagecredit\">Sholes and Glidden<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Working together in 1872, Sholes and Densmore rearranged the alphabetical keyboard layout into a \u201cQWE.TY\u201d arrangement similar to what we have today (with a period where the \u201cR\u201d would be later\u2014and a hyphen in the top row where the \u201cP\u201d would later emerge). By 1874, the QWERTY layout we know today was mostly in place, with a few differences, such as the location of the \u201cM\u201d and semicolon keys.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-792704 size-full\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/1878_patent_keyboard.jpg?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"The QWERTY keyboard on the Sholes 1878 typewriter patent.\" width=\"650\" height=\"395\" data-credittext=\"USPTO\" data-crediturl=\"https:\/\/patentimages.storage.googleapis.com\/d4\/a4\/c2\/15e7e6b7bc73dd\/US207559.pdf\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The QWERTY keyboard on the Sholes 1878 typewriter patent. <span class=\"imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/patentimages.storage.googleapis.com\/d4\/a4\/c2\/15e7e6b7bc73dd\/US207559.pdf\">USPTO<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Remington licensed the typewriter <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a> from Sholes and Densmore and released the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.typewritermuseum.org\/collection\/index.php3?machine=rem2&amp;cat=ku#\">Remington Standard No. 2<\/a> in 1878, which proved very successful. A later revision saw the \u201cM\u201d and semicolon keys swap positions (as well as a swap between \u201cX\u201d and \u201cC\u201d), which cemented the QWERTY letter arrangement we know today into its final form.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"But_Why_QWERTY\"><\/span>But Why QWERTY?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Since we don\u2019t have any records from Sholes or Densmore about why they arranged QWERTY that way (and their 1878 patent <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/invention.si.edu\/was-patent-application-typewriter-handwritten\">doesn\u2019t even mention it<\/a>), historians have had to rely on pure speculation to explain it. And there\u2019s plenty of it out there.<\/p>\n<p>The most common origin theory about the QWERTY layout comes from a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a> of <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/redirect.viglink.com\/?key=204a528a336ede4177fff0d84a044482&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fyasuoka.blogspot.com%2F2006\/07\/in-1873-christopher-latham-sholes.html\">assumptions<\/a> made and spread by historians over time. They <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/redirect.viglink.com\/?key=204a528a336ede4177fff0d84a044482&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fyasuoka.blogspot.com%2F2006\/07\/in-1873-christopher-latham-sholes.html\">claim<\/a> that very early alphabetically-arranged typewriters were prone to jamming and the QWERTY layout fixed this by either jumbling the keyboard to confuse typists and slow them down, or by spreading out the most frequently used letter combinations in English to prevent the typebars in the machine from clashing and getting stuck.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-792717 size-full\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/1876_sholes_keyboard.jpg?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"The keyboard for the 1876 Sholes Typewriter Patent Model\" width=\"650\" height=\"403\" data-crediturl=\"https:\/\/www.si.edu\/object\/sholes-schwalbach-patent-model-improvement-type-writing-machines:nmah_1383308\" data-credittext=\"National Museum of American History (Public Domain)\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This 1876 typewriter model by Sholes included push-button keys in nearly alphabetical order. <span class=\"imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.edu\/object\/sholes-schwalbach-patent-model-improvement-type-writing-machines:nmah_1383308\">National Museum of American History (Public Domain)<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As for slowing typists down, in his 1918 book, <em>The Early History of the Typewriter<\/em>, Charles Weller (who witnessed and used Sholes\u2019 first typewriter prototypes firsthand), emphasizes the speed of the typewriter: \u201cThere were times when everything worked beautifully, and the speed that could be gotten out of it at such times was something marvelous.\u201d Writing speed was the entire point of the typewriter, and there was no desire to slow anyone down. (Interestingly, Weller doesn\u2019t spend any time describing the origins of the QWERTY layout in his book\u2014it was likely a mystery to him too.)<\/p>\n<p>So if they didn\u2019t want to slow typists down, the inventors still could have been trying to prevent jams during speedy usage by spreading out frequently-used letter combinations like \u201cTH.\u201d Some <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/redirect.viglink.com\/?key=204a528a336ede4177fff0d84a044482&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fyasuoka.blogspot.com%2F2016\/04\/the-qwerty-arrangement-was-created-in.html\">critics<\/a> have attacked this by pointing out that the letter combination \u201cER\u201d is one of the most frequently used in English, and yet those two letters are right there, side-by-side, in the QWERTY layout. But if you look back, the original \u201cQWE.TY\u201d layout had placed the \u201cR\u201d in a different location. Other than the \u201cER\u201d combination, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/etconline.org\/backissues\/ETC006.pdf\">analysis has shown<\/a> that in <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a>, the QWERTY layout does separate the most frequently-used letter combinations fairly well, at least as understood in 1874.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s still not a slam dunk. While it\u2019s true that the early typewriter prototypes did jam (according to this <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/earlyhistorytyp00wellgoog\/page\/n36\/mode\/2up\">first-hand 1918 account<\/a>), later QWERTY typewriters jammed too if you pushed too many keys at once\u2014this is one of the reasons the inventors quickly <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/redirect.viglink.com\/?key=204a528a336ede4177fff0d84a044482&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Foztypewriter.blogspot.com%2F2016%2F05%2Fgetting-shirty-about-qwerty-part-i.html\">transitioned away<\/a> from a piano keyboard, which made early testers think they could push multiple keys at once. So the jamming issue documented in the historical record may not be related to the letter arrangement at all, but from misuse of the typewriter.<\/p>\n<p>Also, a contradicting statistical study <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/aresluna.org\/keyboard-secrets\/qwerty-killer-patents\/1949%20Minimotion%20Griffith.pdf\">in 1949<\/a> showed that the QWERTY layout in the type basket (the layout of the typebars in a circle where they strike the paper) of the production 1874 model used more close-in-proximity typebars theoretically prone to clash (26%) than a completely random layout (22%). And to further complicate things, the layout of the keyboard that people press to type did not have to exactly match the layout of the typebars that struck the paper.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, with all the back and forth, there\u2019s still no way to conclusively say this was the origin of the layout, but the theory persists because it sounds like a plausible technical explanation for the seemingly random jumble of keys that we all use today.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-792721 size-full\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/1876_typewriter_model.jpg?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"The 1876 Sholes Typewriter Patent Model\" width=\"650\" height=\"400\" data-crediturl=\"https:\/\/www.si.edu\/object\/sholes-schwalbach-patent-model-improvement-type-writing-machines:nmah_1383308\" data-credittext=\"National Museum of American History (Public Domain)\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The 1876 Sholes Typewriter Patent Model, with its early push-button alphabetical keyboard. <span class=\"imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.edu\/object\/sholes-schwalbach-patent-model-improvement-type-writing-machines:nmah_1383308\">National Museum of American History (Public Domain)<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Another more recent theory about the origins of QWERTY comes in relation to the telegraph. In their 2011 paper, \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp\/dspace\/bitstream\/2433\/139379\/1\/42_161.pdf\">On the Prehistory of QWERTY<\/a>,\u201d Kyoto University researchers Koichi Yasuoka and Motoko Yasuoka claim that the layout appeared organically following feedback from telegraph operators. They claim, with thin evidence, that a key appeal of the typewriter was in helping telegraph operators transcribe incoming messages from Morse code to regular Latin script quickly. They also claim that because of peculiarities with Morse code, certain key arrangements could speed up the process. Unfortunately, while this has been <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/technology\/archive\/2013\/05\/the-lies-youve-been-told-about-the-origin-of-the-qwerty-keyboard\/275537\/\">widely reported<\/a> to be true, the evidence just isn\u2019t there to support these claims. Like the other theories, it\u2019s more speculation.<\/p>\n<p>A much older theory for QWERTY involves a similarity to the \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.alembicpress.co.uk\/Alembicprs\/SELCASE.HTM\">lay<\/a>\u201d (layout) of a compositor\u2019s <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/31704\/31704-h\/31704-h.htm\">type case<\/a> for lowercase letters, which were arranged more by frequency of usage than by alphabetical order. When arranging type on a printing press, compositors manually selected type letters from a type case and put them in place to spell out words. Sholes, as a publisher, was familiar with the works of compositors (and reportedly once worked as one himself, according to Noyes), so it was a natural analogy to think of pulling type from a case and placing it on a page when operating a typewriter.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-792716 size-full\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/california_job_case_layout.jpg?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"The &quot;California Job Case&quot; type case layout.\" width=\"650\" height=\"493\" data-crediturl=\"https:\/\/excelsiorpress.org\/reference_html\/JobCaseLayouts.html\" data-credittext=\"American Type Founders\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The \u201cCalifornia Job Case\u201d type case layout. <span class=\"imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/excelsiorpress.org\/reference_html\/JobCaseLayouts.html\">American Type Founders<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One of the most informed opinions we have about the origins of QWERTY comes from historian Richard N. Current, who wrote <em>The Typewriter and the Men Who Made<\/em> It in 1954. Current had access to letters between Shoals and his business partner James Densmore as they developed their typewriter. Current mentions a few possible theories such as alphabetical order not being ideal for fast typing, as well as avoiding typebar jams\u2014again, with nothing to go on but speculation. But ultimately he says that Sholes and Densmore \u201cfinally arranged the typewriter keyboard in the spirit of the printer\u2019s case, though they did not duplicate its particular arrangement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Historians have supported and dismissed the QWERTY-type case connection over time, but interestingly, Current\u2019s book holds a potential clue in this theory\u2019s favor that Current didn\u2019t recognize. In a reproduced letter authored by Mark Twain on an early typewriter, Twain writes, \u201cThe having been a compositor is likely to be a great help to me, since one chiefly needs swiftness in banging the keys.\u201d This suggests that the QWERTY arrangement reminded Twain of pulling type from a compositor\u2019s type case. But still, since QWERTY doesn\u2019t exactly match any known type case layout, all of this is speculation.<\/p>\n<p>What seems likely is that Sholes and Densmore began with an alphabetical arrangement and changed it to a layout that matched their mechanical needs and personal comfort, for whatever reasons. In the end, a few alphabetical vestiges remain in the standard layout, but the true secrets QWERTY are buried with Sholes and Densmore, where they will likely stay. As for the persistence of the myths and speculation about QWERTY, it\u2019s difficult for historians and experts to admit that sometimes they just don\u2019t know, and the fact that they will never know the origin of something so fundamental is doubly frustrating. In the face of that uncertainty, it\u2019s easy to grab onto the comfort of a false narrative instead.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"From_Typewriters_to_Computers\"><\/span>From Typewriters to Computers<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>From the late 1800s on, typewriters exploded in popularity. Despite competing <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/deskthority.net\/wiki\/Alternative_keyboard_layouts\">alternative keyboard layouts<\/a>, QWERTY held on because people learned it first, and it made sense to not have to learn a completely new layout on a different machine. Other manufacturers imitated the Remington standard, and in the absence of patent enforcement of the layout, it proliferated.<\/p>\n<p>In the 1920s, the Teletype corporation created teleprinters with keyboard layouts based on standard typewriters, and they borrowed the QWERTY layout along the way. By the 1960s, people often used Teletypes as computer terminals, so the standard made its way to computers and then <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/oldcomputers.net\/sol-20.html\">personal computers<\/a> in the 1970s. QWERTY received a further boost when IBM incorporated it into its 101-key Enhanced Keyboard layout, which became the basis of the desktop computer keyboard standards we use today.<\/p>\n<p>As much as we in America think of QWERTY as a universal given, different keyboard layouts reign in different parts of the world. For example, France, Belgium, and some African countries use <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/AZERTY\">AZERTY<\/a>. Germany and Austria use <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/QWERTZ\">QWERTZ<\/a>. But they\u2019re all derivatives of the original QWERTY layout\u2014the same one cobbled together by Sholes and Densmore way back in 1874. Those men took QWERTY\u2019s secrets with them, but their invention\u2019s impact will likely continue as long as we use keyboards, which could be decades or even centuries to come.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n setTimeout(function(){\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s) } (window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n   fbq('init', '335401813750447');\n   fbq('track', 'PageView');\n  },3000);\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/789822\/the-qwerty-keyboard-is-tech%E2%80%99s-biggest-unsolved-mystery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The QWERTY Keyboard Is Tech\u2019s Biggest Unsolved Mystery&#8221; It\u2019s on your computer keyboard and your smartphone screen: QWERTY, the first six letters of the top row of the standard keyboard layout. But no one knows how it originated, and the puzzle has been frustrating historians for over a century. Will we ever figure it out?&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":422700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/qwerty_hero_4.jpg?height=200p&trim=2,2,2,2","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-422699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}