Why are the letters on a keyboard positioned the way they are? Wouldn't it be easier to have them in alphabetical order?

gypsy1326

Yes, it would be, and that's precisely why they are not. When the keyboard was first created as part of a typewriter, the keys were in alphabetical order. This resulted in people being able to type so quickly that the "arms" on the machine, which correspond to the typewriter keys and are responsible for stamping the page with the appropriate letter, were becoming jammed. To help alleviate the problem, the "Qwerty" keybaord was introduced, not only slowing down the typist, but also separating key sets of letters to avoid congestion in the typewriter. Sep 14 04, 12:40 PM

Arpeggionist

And of course by the time typewriters became more advanced and jams were less of a problem, so many typists were already trained on the QWERTY system that switching it again would have been pointless and costly. So the system survived well into the age of computers, and is still the standard for every computer keyboard in the English speaking world. Sep 14 04, 12:44 PM

Linus_337

According to the following, the qwerty design was not actually invented to slow typists down. Rather, the layout was intended to place common two-letter combinations on opposite sides of the keyboard. The Dvorak keyboard layout produces greater accuracy and also speed. http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/jcb/Dvorak/ Sep 14 04, 1:22 PM