19 lines
3.1 KiB
HTML
19 lines
3.1 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>QWERTY</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../Q.html" title="Q"/><link rel="previous" href="qux.html" title="qux"/><link rel="next" href="../R.html" title="R"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">QWERTY</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="qux.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">Q</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="../R.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="QWERTY"/><dt xmlns="" id="QWERTY"><b>QWERTY</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="pronunciation">/kwer´tee/</span>, <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">adj.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [from the keycaps at the upper left] Pertaining to a standard
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English-language typewriter keyboard (sometimes called the Sholes keyboard
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after its inventor), as opposed to Dvorak or non-US-ASCII layouts or a
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<a href="../S/space-cadet-keyboard.html"><i class="glossterm">space-cadet keyboard</i></a> or APL keyboard.</p></dd><dd><p>Historical note: The QWERTY layout is a fine example of a
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<a href="../F/fossil.html"><i class="glossterm">fossil</i></a>. It is sometimes said that it was designed
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to slow down the typist, but this is wrong; it was designed to allow
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<span class="emphasis"><em>faster</em></span> typing — under a constraint now long
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obsolete. In early typewriters, fast typing using nearby type-bars jammed
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the mechanism. So Sholes fiddled the layout to separate the letters of
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many common digraphs (he did a far from perfect job, though;
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‘th’, ‘tr’, ‘ed’, and ‘er’,
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for example, each use two nearby keys). Also, putting the letters of
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‘typewriter’ on one line allowed it to be typed with particular
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speed and accuracy for <a href="../D/demo.html"><i class="glossterm">demo</i></a>s. The jamming problem
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was essentially solved soon afterward by a suitable use of springs, but the
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keyboard layout lives on.</p><p>The QWERTY keyboard has also spawned some unhelpful economic myths
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about how technical standards get and stay established; see <a href="http://reason.com/9606/Fe.QWERTY.html" target="_top">http://www.reasonmag.com/9606/Fe.QWERTY.html</a>.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="qux.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../Q.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="../R.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">qux </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> R</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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