typing

[jimmonas]

why are the letters set out in this order on keyboards???

[Ethel]

Can you believe the QWERTY layout is nearly 150 years old?

Good explanation as to the reasons for the layout here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTY

[vehelpfulguy]

Of course not ALL keyboards are laid out the same way, even the so called QWERTY keyboard.

Many countries have different or extra letters in their alphabet and therefore some keys are in different places on their keyboards.

Also often special characters (ie backslash) are in different places on a keyboard which can cause confusion when going abroad.

The hardest I ever used was a Japanese keyboard, never again.

Of course one of the settings in Windows is the country type of the keyboard so Windows knows what to type when the keys are pressed.

[Space]

the reasons behind the QWERTY layout are obsolete now.
We keep using them simply because "people are used to them"... although it would be wiser to switch to faster and/or more comfortable key layouts instead.

[Dagman]

And did u know you can type 'typewriter' with the top row!

[SOMMERS]

Working with a pc keyboard every day I was pleased to read a few years back that a left handed one, i.e the number pad was on the left side, had become available. I asked my boss if I could have one. A few weeks later a rather square box arived and we both thought it looked a strange shape to house a keyboard. Upon opening it indeed contained a square object with a sunken 'bowl' in the middle which contained the keys in a concave arrangements. After much deliberation we worked out they'd sent a keyboard for a one handed person !!

[crofty]

I was always told that the QWERTY layout was designed for use with old manual typewriters to slow typists down so that the keys didn't jam - keys that were most likely to be used together were quite far apart. With computers these days there's no need for this artificial hurdle.

There's an alternative layout called DVORAK. Most newish computers have the layout built in.

With Windows XP, you can go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Regional and language options > Language > details > US Dvorak (or something like that)

Then depending on the options you select you can have an icon pop up on your desktop on startup to give you the option of qwerty or dvorak. A basic Google search will give you the equivalent dvorak positions for your qwerty labelled keyboard.

Hope this helps!!

[SOMMERS]

wasnt Dvorak a baddie in Dr Who or James Bond ?