Why Aren't Keyboard in ABC Order? | Invention of Typewriter | How QWERTY Conquered Keyboards

No! Say A, B, C. Oh little kitty, why are you teaching the alphabet to the keyboard? The keyboard doesn't… Well, I know this looks like a mistake. But there is a reason why the alphabets are in this order. Why? Let me answer that by addressing an alphabetical question. Why aren't keyboards in A, B, C order? Zoom in! If you've ever glanced at the keyboard of your electronic device, you've probably noticed something strange. It's not organized in the logical sequence of the alphabet. Instead, it might seem like a curious mishmash of letters, a seemingly random arrangement that defies the familiar A, B, C order. But, what if I told you they are arranged this way for a reason? To know the answer, let's travel back to the 1800s, where an American inventor, Christopher Scholz, was focused on perfecting a device known as a paginator, designed to efficiently type numbers onto paper. However, one fine day, his friend, Carlos Gleiden, brought forth a magazine featuring an article about an innovative device, the Terotype, an advanced machine that could print alphabets onto paper. Motivated by this discovery, Scholz shifted his focus toward creating his version of the machine. After much effort, in 1874, his invention eventually materialized as the typewriter, which had the keyboard in the usual alphabetical order. Excited by this, Scholz handed his invention for testing to telegraph operators, who required swift transcription of messages from Morse code. However, while using this new machine, the operators found the alphabetical layout quite confusing. More importantly, the faster someone typed, the more frequently the typewriter jammed, particularly when the keys were closely positioned on the keyboard. He took his feedback seriously and experimented with various arrangements, aiming to minimize the necessity of typing closely positioned keys. After numerous trials and errors, he arrived at the best arrangement, known as the QWERTY keyboard, which remains in common use today. Just look at the top row of a keyboard to understand why it's called QWERTY. Later, Scholz sold his invention to the Remington Company, which manufactured and marketed the first commercially successful typewriters, featuring the QWERTY keyboard. Following this, numerous people worldwide learned to type proficiently on this keyboard, opening up abundant job opportunities for them. So, despite several other options coming into the market, like the Vorac keyboard layout designed to put less stress on the typist's hands, most people found it hard to switch to a different keyboard layout, as they were already trained to use the QWERTY keyboard layout by that time. And this familiarity is the reason that later on, even computers and smartphones retained the QWERTY layout. This proves that sometimes what seems most logical isn't what everyone ends up using. People stick to what they know and what works best for them. So, we can say that a change made due to the jamming of keys is stuck with us forever. Did you know that thousands of English words can be spelled using only the left hand, while only a couple of hundred words can be typed using only the right hand? Also, typewriter, proprietor, perpetuity and repertoire are the longest English words that can be written using only the keys in the top row. Today's sketch of the day goes to Vedha. Hope you learnt something new today. Until next time, it's me Dr. Binocs, Zooming Out!