All the objects we are used to that we encounter every day have a story. Keyboard - an input device that anyone with a PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet sees. But when, why, and why did it first appear? Why do we use the QWERTY layout?
About device
It is unlikely that you have never heard anything about the keyboard. This device is a user assistant. It helps to enter information into the computer along with a mouse, gamepad, etc. It can be of various shapes and purposes, but represented by a set of buttons arranged in a certain order.
Inventor
The history of the keyboard begins back in 1868. Then the inventor Christopher Latham Scholes became popular. This happened thanks to its development - the first mass-produced typewriter. At that time, the scientist with his friends received a patent and began to work on improving the device.
After the first analog appeared, it was necessary to work on it anyway. But since Scholes did not have money, he sold the invention. Very soon, writers, editors and businessmen became buyers of the typewriter.
Keyboard layout
Then the story of the keyboard layout began to take shape. The fact is that while Scholes worked on the printing mechanism, he constantly changed the location of the buttons in each new sample.
The layout was not completed until 1878. What prevented you from coming up with a good layout right away? The fact is that a lot depended on the mechanical design of the machine. Over time, problems related to print speed began to be detected. It was limited to the proximity of the letter levers to each other.
If you've ever seen and used a typewriter, then you know by what principle it works. If high-speed printing uses levers located next to each other, then they may intersect earlier than they reach the point of contact with the paper. Thus, the mechanisms can jam between themselves.
Button layout
The inventor faced a difficult task. Since Scholes was an Englishman, he needed to place all the letters of the English alphabet on the keyboard, also allocate space for numbers from 0 to 9, and not forget about common punctuation marks and symbols.
Specialists found that they needed 46 buttons along with a space. Initially, examples of keyboard instruments began to be used. On the basis of this layout, before that, they tried to develop devices, but as practice has shown, this option is not the most convenient.
In the first sample of Scholes, it was decided to remove the numbers 1 and 0, and replace them with the letters I and O. Thus, it turned out to reduce the number of buttons. The letters were arranged in two rows in alphabetical order. The numbers were also divided into two groups in order. Thus, the keyboard turned out to be long and not very convenient. In addition, it was found that with the alphabetical arrangement of the buttons, the levers are confused, and the print speed is very low.
New attempts
In the history of the keyboard, layout development took about 10 years. Two years after Scholes’s invention, a three-row keyboard appeared. It was decided to place all the characters in three rows. They decided to disrupt the alphabetical order, but not to the full extent, so it was possible to select entire blocks with the ordinal placement of letters.
In 1872, another layout pattern appeared that looked like a modern computer keyboard. The buttons were placed in four rows, and two new characters were added. This layout option differed from the modern one in just four parameters:
- swap X and C;
- instead of? put the letter M;
- to get a QWERTY combination, you had to put the letter R instead of a dot;
- after O should follow the letter P, not a dash.
After that came out an even more similar layout to the modern one in 1873. And already in 1878, the QWERTY combination became known.
Alternative layouts
Despite the fact that the history of the QWERTY keyboard was established back in 1878, in the middle of the 20th century, some scientists tried to come up with alternative layouts.
For example, in 1936 the layout of Dvorak became known. August Dvorak decided to develop a more ergonomic computer keyboard by swapping buttons. The layout is not widely known, although it is included in the list of layouts of any version of Windows. Less than 2% of users work with it.
In 2006, the Colemak layout became popular. Shay Coleman decided to influence the history of the keyboard, making his own changes. The name is a combination of the names of the two inventors of Coleman and Dvorak.
The inventor claims that with this layout you can solve many problems:
- increase print speed by reducing the load on the little fingers and the use of alternating hands;
- There is a partial resemblance to QWERTY, so layouts can be combined using one at home and a second at work;
- all important teams remained in place;
- simplified programming.
Adaptation to a specific language
In Russian-speaking countries, the keyboard layout is called “Ytsuken”, according to the same principle as the English-language one: according to the first six letters of the top row. In Russia, this option became popular in the 1930s.
But the French use the AZERTY layout. This option is widespread in France and Belgium everywhere, and can also be found in Switzerland, Luxembourg and Monaco.
Computer keyboard
After switching from printing machines to a computer, the development of computer keyboards began. In general, specialists had something to rely on, so the radical changes did not affect the PC. Unless, of course, we are talking about the layout.
But the story of creating a computer keyboard at some point began to gain momentum. The first prototype of a modern device became popular in 1948. Then he looked somewhat primitive, and instead of buttons, levers were used.
In 1960, a capacitive keyboard appeared, which was part of an electric typewriter. The driving force behind this mechanism was the capacitors. Through the use of reduced capacity, printing has become faster and easier.
In the early 1990s, the first personal computers began to appear. These devices were monolithic and consisted of a monitor, keyboard and the computer itself. The input device received new keys: Ctrl, Alt and Enter.
The path to modern models
After some time, the keyboards became an independent device. Despite the fact that manufacturers did their best to make any adjustments to the operation of this equipment, in fact it was almost identical to the modern one.
In the late 1990s, an expanded keyboard appears that every modern user has. There are 101 keys on it, the F1-F12 function keys appeared. The Ctrl and Alt buttons were also duplicated.
Now the number of buttons on the keyboard may vary. The most common models have 104 keys. Some game models contain 87 buttons.
Also, the type of keyboard may differ: mechanical, membrane, combined. The difference in this case is in the switches. Expensive on the market is a mechanical keyboard.