[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

I just purchased the Sony Daily Edition. I should note that this is my first touch screen device and that was a major selling point for me.

One thing I was struck by was the touch screen key board that can allow text notes to be 'typed' in using a stylus. Now I've been typing for so long, going clear back to typing on a old mechanical typewriter, that when I type I just sit down and type. So it has been a long time since I thought about the key board layout. So when I try and use the touch screen keyboard on the Daily Edition reader I can't help thinking: “Why are these keys so jumbled? Why aren't they just in alphabetical order?” So why aren't they? In the interest of those who still 'hunt and peck' when they type on a regular keyboard?

The original reason for the QWERTY keyboard layout was to speed up typing by slowing typists down. A problem early typewriters had (the ones with individual striking keys for each letter) was the keys would often jam. The QWERTY keyboard layout separates letters that are often used together to reduce key jams. For example, S and T are separated by 8 keys, Q and U by 18 keys, and the vowels are scattered around the keyboard.

Once the IBM Selectric was introduced (which used a replaceable print element in the form of a ball containing all of the letters), key jams became a thing of the past. Also, it would be fairly easy to change the keyboard layout since all it would take is replacing the print element and change the keyboard key tops. But standards inertia have caused people to stay with the QWERTY layout.

Although there have been other keyboard layouts that have been proposed (such as the DVORAK layout) and changing the keyboard layout on your computer is fairly easy, the QWERTY standard has been difficult to overcome. It's sort of a circular situation, where people have been typing on QWERTY keyboards, so they expect that layout on the keyboards for their devices, and since people expect the QWERTY keyboard layout device makers use that layout.

I hope this helps.