Are We Really QWERTY?
The QWERTY layout was created to slow down typing and prevent typists from jamming up the type hammers. Mechanical typewriters, if operated too quickly, would have their letters tangled together and block writing. QWERTY helped with that. It also helped that typewriter salespeople could spell the word “typewriter” using one line.
I was entering an order at a kiosk today and it asked me to input my name. Sure enough, I was there adding in my name on a screen version of a keyboard and it was the longest operation of the entire process.
Why do onscreen keyboards at kiosks look like QWERTY?
Dvorak and Colemak keyboards are options that can make typing that much faster on a regular keyboard but what might we do to make that onscreen experience better? Why not name predictions after the first letter? Why do we need the name at all?
While keyboard as an input will likely be around for awhile, QWERTY might eventually be the equivalent of knowing how to write in cursive.
