[faragbre967]

Some parts of the keyboard make sense, but why are the letters placed like they are? The numbers make sense, so does the placement and size of the space bar; but why isn't the letter part in alphabetical order? And who's idea was it anyways?

[Stradlater]

because typewriters used to not run as quickly as people could type (the typing parts would jam together), so people engineered the least-efficient organization of keys so that people wouldn't type too quickly that jamming would occur.

it also has all the keys to type "typewriter" in the top row.

DVORAK is a more-efficient layout, but didn't catch on, and in the end, many are skeptical of which is better. Learning DVORAK is not worth it for most people, and some find that the momentum one builds while typing with QWERTY keeps things just as fast as with DVORAK.

[Apple Pro Underwear]

take a professional typing class and all the tips and hints you get and shyt and you'll never diss QWERTY again

some people type like almost 200 words a minute..or someshit like that. all it takes is practice and you too can type like vandal

[Minty Fresh]

The real reason...

In 1867, Christopher Latham Sholes, a Milwaukee printer, filed a patent application for a mechanical writing machine. Unlike the manual typewriters you may remember from your youth, his machine had its typebars on the bottom, striking upward to leave an impression on the paper. This arrangement had two serious drawbacks. First, because the printing point was underneath the paper carriage, it was invisible to the typist. Second, if a typebar became jammed, it too, remained invisible to the operator. Sholes worked for the next six years to try to eliminate this problem, trying mechanical changes and different keyboard arrangements.

In 1873, E. Remington & Sons licensed the design from Scholes, and set their engineers to work to on the design. One of their keyboard layout changes was driven by a clever marketing idea. The Remington brand name, TYPE WRITER, could be most speedily typed if all of its letters were on the same row. Remington's salesmen used this slight bit of subterfuge to impress potential customers.

Competing designs continued to be introduced over the next six decades that solved the mechanical jamming problem, and enabled faster typing. These designs ranged from the so-called "Ideal" keyboard, which placed the most commonly used letters of the alphabet -- DHIATENSOR -- in the home row (circa 1880), to the more well-known Dvorak keyboard, patented in 1932.

How much better were these other designs? During the second World War, the US Navy conducted experiments and discovered that the Dvorak layout increased typing productivity so significantly, that the payback time to retrain a group of typists was only ten days! But these designs were never successful in the marketplace.

Why would firms consistently buy an inferior product? The answer lies not in the device, but in the context of how the devices were employed. Typewriters by themselves, are unproductive objects. Their productive employment requires the presence of a skilled operator - the typist. In the late 1880's, the practice of "touch typing" (where you don't cheat and look at your fingers) was developed. And it was developed for the Remington keyboard. So while competing typewriter designers were heralding their advantages to potential typewriter purchasers, the typists were learning how to use the Remington QWERTY keyboard.

Economists describe the outcome of situations like this with terms like "system scale economies," "entry barriers," and "quasi-irreversibility of investment."

[The Godfather]

Mechanical typewriters used to jam when two close-together types were actuated one after the other.

Someone made a list of the most common words in the English language and applied some monster statistics to figure out an arrangement of characters to prevent jamming.

[mitchell_pgh]

Correct.

The layout wad "re-organized" to make it less efficient so that the hammers of a typewriter wouldn't jam.

DVORAK is considerably more efficient, but isn't worth learning as there are very few users that have bothered relearning how to type. There was a big-ish push for it back in the late 80's, early 90's... but it simply never took off.

[shabbasuraj]

the dvorak layout is nice, and makes more sense. Mathematicall/statistically it is more effcient...When I was in HS I learned the dvorak just to see if I could do it...

I did, and to this day I have a rearranged PC keyboard with a dvorak layout buried in my attic somewhere, the last time I used this keyboard was in Windows 3.11

so it can be learned, and I did find typing with it much 'smarter'...

but since then I have lost the skill and ability to use a dvorak keyboard...

[oVeRmInD911]

I use Dvorak, and I like it. It's very comfortable, and OS X supports it pretty well.

QWERTY just feels awkward to me now. I can still type it fine though.

[dracoleb]

As good as DVORAK may be, I would rather not attempt to rearrange my iBook keyboard to make use of it. I am acceptipily fast a QWERTY as it is already. On a side note "QWERTY" is fun to type. QWERTY QWERTY QWERTY

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
Correct.

NOT CORRECT AT ALL!

This is a known MYTH, why the fuck do people keep spreading it?

The economist on the copy/paste "trivia" above:

A fine tale, but largely fiction. The paper by Messrs Liebowitz and Margolis shows, in the first place, that the first evidence supporting claims of Dvorak�s superiority was extremely thin. The main study was carried out by the United States Navy in 1944 (doubtless a time when every second counted in the typing pools). The speed of 14 typists retrained on Dvorak was compared with the speed of 18 given supplementary training on QWERTY. The Dvorak typists did better -- but it is impossible to say from the official report whether the experiment was properly controlled. There are a variety of oddities and possible biases: all of them, it so happens, seeming to favour Dvorak.

- article

More resources:

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_248.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~dcrehr/myths.html
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/Q/QWERTY_keyboard.html

If you want to be the king of useless trivia at least pretend to care about checking the facts.

[wataru]

I kind of want to learn DVORAK, but not enough to rearrange my iBook keyboard.

So I guess that means that I'll learn DVORAK around the same time I learn how to play the guitar, and learn Latin, and...

[PB2K]

You would have to bring your own DVORAK every time you go to someone elses office, and no-one can use your computer because they dont understand your layout. That's why I stick with QWERTY

[effgee]

I like QWERTY - ever since moving back to Krautland, that retarded QWERTZ keyboard is driving me bunkers!!

Me hates it ... we wants to put out its keyses ... rrrrrrrr

[starman]

I tried the DVORAK keyboard once. My computer started typing on its own with tirade after tirade about how Apple is doomed, blah blah blah; and every email oddly kept being signed 'John C.'. I could never figure it out .

Mike

[C.J. Moof]

Originally posted by PB2K:
You would have to bring your own DVORAK every time you go to someone elses office, and no-one can use your computer because they dont understand your layout. That's why I stick with QWERTY

Not really- System Preferences: International: Input Menu. Enable the Input menu in the Menu bar, and put Dvorak in the option list. Select it, and you're in Dvorak mode. No new keyboard needed.

I don't see the fact that others couldn't use my keyboard as a bad thing. Sounds like a cool Sailing Clicker thing.... when the BT phone gets out of range, first switch keyboard to Dvorak.... better yet, pair your phone with someone else's and randomly switch their configuration just for fun.....

[shabbasuraj]

so anyone else in here using DVORAK?

there is a bunch of members at AI in the 'General Forum' trying to make the switch...

I once saw this cool mod where the PB had all blank keys, and the layout was a DVORAK...

talk about theft deterrant...

it looked pretty freaky and cool at the same time..

but now that I think about it, maybe this type of computer mod would be more desirable for thiefs...

[SilentEchoes]

I would really like to take the time to learn DVORK but I can type so fast on qwerty that it almost seems a waste.

Plus last time I tried I got so annoyed with taking hours to type Hey on AIM to people I just gave up.

[AKcrab]

I tried to teach myself dvorak after about 15 years of qwerty. It was way too hard. It wasn't the same as a second language, tt was like I had to 'unlearn' qwerty to remember dvorak. My fingers were just too trained.

(why is dvorak in the os x dictionary, but qwerty is not?)

[hyteckit]

Keys in Dvorak that stands out:

AEIOU
BMW