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QWERTY /kwer'tee/ (From the top left row of letter keys of
most keyboards) Pertaining to a standard English-language
typewriter keyboard (sometimes called the Sholes keyboard
after its inventor), as opposed to {Dvorak} or
foreign-language layouts (e.g. "keyboard AZERTY" in
french-speaking countries) or a {space-cadet keyboard} or {APL
keyboard}.
The QWERTY layout is a fine example of a {fossil}. It is
sometimes said that it was designed to slow down the typist,
but this is wrong; it was designed to allow *faster* typing -
under a constraint now long obsolete. In early typewriters,
fast typing using nearby type-bars jammed the mechanism. So
Sholes fiddled the layout to separate the letters of many
common digraphs (he did a far from perfect job, though; "th",
"tr", "ed", and "er", for example, each use two nearby keys).
Also, putting the letters of "typewriter" on one line allowed
it to be typed with particular speed and accuracy for {demos}.
The jamming problem was essentially solved soon afterward by a
suitable use of springs, but the keyboard layout lives on.
[{Jargon File}]
(1998-01-15)
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