Why exactly do we still use qwerty style keyboards? We don’t use typewriters anymore.

Question

I honestly don’t get why the heck we use this stupid layout… please somebody help me understand.

In: 131

Answer 1

Inertia. There was already a large established user base trained on typewriters when computer keyboards were introduced. Those people bought qwerty keyboards, so that’s what gets made.

Sure you can use a different key layout, but it’s an uphill battle. You’ll likely end up needing to use qwerty anyway on machines you don’t own, and even on the machines you do own you’ll have to go remapping a bunch of hotkeys that were assigned to be convenient on qwerty.

For a major improvement in speed, look at a stenography keyboard. Where you use multiple keys simultaneously. These are used by court reporters.