At some point in the day, we all smash our fingers against some form of keyboard -- whether it's of the physical or virtual variety. In this week's Rewind, we take a look at how the keyboard's grown beyond its humble typewriter beginnings and taken on a life of its own.
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A tale of two layouts
That QWERTY keyboard layout we all know so well wasn't designed with typing efficiency in mind. It was a solution to keep mechanical typewriter levers from jamming by spacing out frequently typed letters.
An alternative, more efficient layout was developed by Dr. August Dvorak in the 1930s. This layout was designed to minimize "hurdles" (reaching fingers across other keys) and improve typing speed as well as ergonomics. It became known as the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard and was patented in 1936. It was all for naught, though, as this "improved" keyboard failed to catch on with the general public.
[Images: Optikos/Wikimedia (patented and public release)]