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Thread ID: 82301	2007-08-22 11:53:00	Is it possible to master typing on two types of keyboard layout?	Renmoo (66)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
583875	2007-08-23 09:04:00	Just did some research on it, sounds interesting. I was told a while back that the typists were actually put onto qwerty type writers during the war to slow down their typing because they got so fast on the other type writers that the keys wouldn't spring back in time and kept mashing together. I think the typists were doing 120wpm or more at the time. Contrary to popular opinion, the qwerty design was not actually invented to slow typists down. Rather, the layout was intended to place common two-letter combinations on opposite sides of the keyboard. On manual typewriters, each key is mechanically connected to a lever that has the reversed image of a letter on it. If a typist were to hit two keys on the same side of the keyboard in rapid succession, the second lever on its way up would hit the first on its way down, the keys would become stuck together, and the typist would have to stop typing and unstick the keys. The qwerty layout was a clever design that minimized this problem. However, now that most of us use computers (or electric typewriters that don't use levers), the problem of keys jamming is no longer a consideration. Also, computers now enable us to switch layouts while continuing to use the same equipment. www.mit.edu	--Wolf-- (128)
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