dxer ham radio dx news: Why Aren’t the Letters on a Computer Keyboard in Alphabetical Order?

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Why Aren’t the Letters on a Computer Keyboard in Alphabetical Order?

If you’ve ever looked down at your keyboard and wondered why it’s not in alphabetical order, you’re not alone. But who came up with the current design, anyway? A few popular myths abound, but one Japanese study got to the root of it. (Hint: This design dates back WAY farther than you think.) The truth: The design is a hand-me-down from morse code transcribers. We’re guessing you didn’t expect this, so we’ll let Smithsonian reporter Jimmy Stamp, who originally sleuthed through the Japanese study, explain. “The QWERTY system emerged as a result of how the first typewriters were being used. Early adopters and beta-testers included telegraph operators who needed to quickly transcribe messages. However, the operators found the alphabetical arrangement to be confusing and inefficient for translating morse code. The Kyoto paper suggests that the typewriter keyboard evolved over several years as a direct result of input provided by these telegraph operators.”

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