A History of the QWERTY Keyboard?

The reason for the layout became obsolete over a century ago

As children grow up they have to face quite a few disappointments in life. They learn that pixies, the tooth fairy, and that guy in the red suit don’t exist. They discover that green vegetables are not merely a garnish; and they encounter the QWERTY keyboard.

Positive Brainwashing

The child puts a great deal of effort into going through the daily positive brainwashing process of learning the letters of the alphabet; a-for-apple, b-for-ball, c-for-cat, etc. After a while, and with some perseverance, all twenty-six are imprinted in his or her mind in the correct order, and a world of reading and writing awaits. A lot of the latter part of this world will be explored using some form of keyboard input, and children these days are introduced to such devices at an early age.

That first encounter with a computer, however, can be something of a shock. Setting eyes on the keyboard for the first time, the child is aghast to discover that none of the letters are in their correct places; it’s as though someone has made a huge anagram of the alphabet, and everything the child has learned has flown out of the window. Why does it begin with Q? Why isn’t E between D and F?