Different Keyboard Layouts

Different Keyboard Layouts for Everyone Jimmy Do ENC 1102 Professor Guenzel April 10, 2009

Different Keyboard Layouts Abstract

The QWERTY keyboard layout has long been the standard keyboard layout all over the world. While it is not the worst keyboard layout to be ever created, it certainly is not the best. As time goes on, the reasoning behind its creation, in order to prevent typewriters from jamming, starts to become more and more obsolete. As speeds increase, the QWERTY keyboard layout becomes more and more of a problem than a solution, as people begin to develop repetitive strain injuries while using the QWERTY keyboard layout and increased risk of carpal tunnel syndrome. While the QWERTY keyboard layout still stands as the standard keyboard layout, newer, more efficient keyboard layouts have been introduced into the market. This paper discusses the more prominent keyboard layouts that have been introduced into the market, Dvorak and Colemak, and compares them to QWERTY, seeing if QWERTY is still a viable choice to be the standard keyboard layout taught to the newer generations. This discussion will call back older information on the three keyboard layouts and suggest the need for there to be a switch to a newer keyboard layout, which hopes to prove that QWERTY is no longer a good option to be the standard keyboard layout all over the world.

Different Keyboard Layouts Different Keyboard Layouts for Everyone

The QWERTY keyboard layout is currently the standard keyboard layout in many places of the world. It was developed in the 1860s by Christopher Sholes. When typewriters were first made, there was the problem that common letter combinations would be hit too fast, cause the typewriter to jam, which would potentially mess up the document being typed out. The QWERTY keyboard layout was then made to fix this problem. This was achieved by moving the more common letter combinations into rows away from each other, which slowed down typing. According to the BBC article, Why do we all use Qwerty keyboards? (2010), the keyboard layout was picked up by the Remington typewriter company in 1873, which created one of the most popular typewriters, making the QWERTY keyboard layout the standard layout for keyboards all over the world. According to deskthority.net, other countries, such as France and Germany, made their own iterations of the standard QWERTY keyboard layout, the AZERTY keyboard layout and the QWERTZ keyboard layout, respectively. As technology advanced, the world switched to computers, but kept the QWERTY keyboard layout as the standard for keyboards, even though it was designed for typewriters. As people improved in typing, new problems arose. Extended sessions of typing can lead to repetitive strain injuries, which over time, can lead into the development of signs of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. The QWERTY keyboard layout is very difficult to learn, with key letters used in many common words being put in what seems to be very random positions that make the hands move into very awkward positions. According to Discover magazine's article, The Curse of QWERTY (1997), More than 3,000 English words utilize QWERTY's left hand alone, and about 300 the right hand alone. (Try typing exaggerated and greatest, then try million and monopoly). While many people are content with the QWERTY keyboard layout, there are more efficient keyboard layouts out in the world, which were developed to eliminate the problems with the QWERTY keyboard layout. The standard keyboard layout should be changed to another keyboard layout that is more optimized for typing, such as Colemak or Dvorak.

Different Keyboard Layouts

The Dvorak keyboard layout is one of the main examples of a keyboard designed to replace the QWERTY keyboard layout. It was created in the 1930s by August Dvorak. It was made to replace the QWERTY keyboard layout in terms of efficiency. It boasts that it is more accurate, faster and uses less awkward movement than the QWERTY keyboard layout. It achieves this through the fact that many common letters are on the home row of the keyboard, which is the row which you rest your fingers on when typing. Baker states, Dvorak users reported faster, more accurate typing and reduced keyboard clashes. (2010) The Guinness World Records' record for world's fastest typist is Barbara Blackburn, who averages 170 words per minute (WPM) on a Dvorak layout keyboard. The Dvorak keyboard layout is now the second most used keyboard layout, right behind QWERTY. The Colemak keyboard layout is another example of a keyboard layout that was designed to replace the QWERTY keyboard layout. According to the deskthority.net wiki and colemak.com, it was developed in 2002 by Shai Coleman, and released to the public in 2006. Its design goals consist of easy transition from QWERTY due to repositioning only 17 letter keys. (deskthority.net) It keeps the A, Z, X, C, and V keys in the same position as the QWERTY keyboard layout does, so that QWERTY keyboard layout users converting to the Colemak keyboard layout will still have the same positions for most of the keyboard commands, such as copy, paste, cut, undo, and select all. According to Carpalx, the keyboard layout optimizer created by Krzywinsky, Colemak has the lowest base effort, stroke path, and penalty when compared to the QWERTY keyboard layout and the Dvorak keyboard layout, which means that it requires the least amount of effort to type on, as it requires the least amount of hand movement for common words to be typed. The Colemak keyboard layout was created in order to be a similar alternative to the QWERTY keyboard layout, but be more efficient than the Dvorak keyboard layout in terms of optimization of typing. According to carpalx.net, the Colemak keyboard layout's hardest words to type are very under-used words, such as zyzzyva and cazzle. While the Colemak keyboard layout is one of the newest keyboard layouts out, it is the third most used keyboard

Different Keyboard Layouts layout, behind the QWERTY keyboard layout and the Dvorak keyboard layout. What's the best for me? The arguments for switching to a different keyboard layout can be as simple as wanting a change and trying out a different keyboard layout, to as complicated as preventing injuries due to repetitive strain and carpal tunnel syndrome. The Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology have a study that concludes that there's an association between cumulative exposure to keyboard

strokes and development of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. (2012) Studies have shown that one of the most effective ways to alleviate repetitive strain injuries for those who spend a lot of time typing on keyboards is to switch to the Dvorak keyboard layout or the Colemak keyboard layout, which requires less hand movement away from the home row. According to Matthew Might, an online computer science professor, switching to the Dvorak keyboard layout was one of the best things that he could have done to alleviate his repetitive strain injuries, besides spending a lot of money on an ergonomic keyboard. Dvorak keyboard layout and Colemak keyboard layout users have a higher average WPM than QWERTY keyboard layout users. According to a study done by professors at Misericordia University, the Dvorak keyboard layout allows for faster and easier learning of typing, and faster typing for the experienced typist. (Anson, Eck, King, Mooney, Sansom & Wilkerson, 2004) Why change from what we have? There are arguments for keeping the QWERTY keyboard layout as the standard layout that are as numerous as the arguments to switch to a new keyboard layout. An argument against switching to another keyboard layout revolved around the idea that the other keyboard layouts statistics are false, and that the benefits from switching to a new keyboard layout are not as substantial as they seem. According to the paper, Typing Errors, by Margolis and Liebowitz (1996), they find that the experiments that show the Dvorak keyboard layout to be much better than the QWERTY keyboard layout to be biased and untrue. They explain how the testing was fixed, saying that one of the test

Different Keyboard Layouts samples was August Dvorak himself, which threw off the statistics of the test, which was to compare the typing speeds of people being retrained from the QWERTY keyboard layout to the Dvorak keyboard layout. Another argument was that learning the new keyboard layout would take too much time to offset the cost of training workers on the new layout, with not enough of an advantage to make the switch worth it. The article, Typing Errors (1996), talks about the claim that August Dvorak made that the investment in retraining repays itself at least 23 times in one year. They already showed that the test was heavily biased in favor of the Dvorak keyboard layout and now dispute the claim that August Dvorak makes that switching to the Dvorak keyboard layout is worth the time investment. The argument they make for the QWERTY keyboard layout makes use of the fact that it's been the standard keyboard layout for so long, there has to be a reason why there hasn't been another keyboard layout to take its place since it's creation and adoption as the standard keyboard layout. Reason magazine's article, Typing Errors b y Stephen Margolis and Stan Liebowitz use the argument that the QWERTY keyboard layout has beaten every competitor in typing contests. The other keyboards did compete. They just couldn't surpass QWERTY. (1996) The arguments that QWERTY keyboard layout supporters make are very strong. It makes it seem that the Dvorak keyboard layout isn't as pleasing to switch to as originally hoped. Staying with the QWERTY keyboard layout is fine for those that are already trained and heavily invested in the

QWERTY keyboard layout, but keeping it as the standard keyboard layout is not smart. While the tests for the Dvorak keyboard layout in the article, Typing Errors (Liebowitz & Margolis, 1996), sound like they were biased, it brings up questions about the article's source on the information that the tests were biased. According to the article, the source was found in the attic of a farmhouse in Vermont. (1996) This raises questions about the legitimacy of the source that the authors used to prove that the Dvorak keyboard layout tests were indeed biased or not. The authors do prove that August Dvorak's claim that investment in retraining repays itself at least 23 times in one year is quite extraordinary

Different Keyboard Layouts and that the claim is unable to be proven as true. However, they were unable to prove that the QWERTY keyboard layout was overall better than the Dvorak keyboard layout in any way. Their argument that the QWERTY keyboard layout beats every competitor in typing contests uses contests from back in the 1890s, when the Dvorak keyboard layout was not even out yet. These facts disprove the argument to keep the QWERTY keyboard layout as the standard keyboard layout. While currently, the QWERTY keyboard layout is still the standard keyboard layout in many areas of the world, it is not the most efficient keyboard layout, and should be removed from being the standard keyboard layout. After over 140 years of being the standard keyboard layout without any change or improvement of any sort, the standard keyboard layout should be changed to the Dvorak keyboard layout or the Colemak keyboard layout, as these keyboard layouts were made in order to

replace the QWERTY keyboard layout. Though it may seem like they're slowly on the rise, considering that the Dvorak keyboard layout is the second most used keyboard layout, and that the Colemak keyboard layout is the third most used keyboard layout, the numbers behind these rankings can be compared to the wealth disparity in the United States of America. The QWERTY keyboard layout has over ninety-five percent of keyboard users, while the Dvorak keyboard layout and Colemak keyboard layout are fighting for the other five percent. While the QWERTY keyboard layout is out of date, many people have already been trained on it for many years, and it would not be beneficial for them to be retrained onto a new keyboard layout. If possible the three keyboard layouts should be able to co-exist and let the QWERTY keyboard layout slowly be phased out with the coming of the new generation. The QWERTY keyboard has made its stand as the standard keyboard layout and has stayed that way for long enough. If the world made it known to the public that there are keyboard layouts other than the QWERTY keyboard layout and there was a choice for new generations of people to learn something other than the QWERTY keyboard layout, the choice should be Colemak keyboard layout, the newest keyboard layout to hit the market.

Different Keyboard Layouts While the Dvorak keyboard layout has more of a following than the Colemak keyboard layout, the Colemak keyboard layout was created to resemble the QWERTY keyboard layout which would help current QWERTY users adjust to the new layout easier, but has the same benefits that switching to the Dvorak keyboard layout, which would be optimization of typing and reduction of effort in typing.

Different Keyboard Layouts

References Anson, D., Eck, C., King, J., Mooney, R., Sansom, C., Wilkerson, B., et al. (n.d.). Efficacy of Alternate Keyboard Configurations. Efficacy of Alternate Keyboard Configurations. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://atri.misericordia.edu/Papers/Dvorak.php Baker, Nick. "Why do we all use Qwerty keyboards?." BBC News. BBC, 8 Nov. 2010. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10925456>. Coleman, S. (n.d.). FAQ. - Colemak. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://colemak.com/wiki/index.php?title=FAQ Diamond, J. (n.d.). May 2014. Discover Magazine. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://discovermagazine.com/1997/apr/thecurseofqwerty1099/ Dvorak Simplified Keyboard. (2014, March 30). Wikipedia. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard Eleftheriou, A., Rachiotis, G., Varitimidis, S., Koutis, C., Malizos, K., & Hadjichristodoulou, C. (n.d.). Cumulative keyboard strokes: a possible risk factor for carpal tunnel syndrome. JOMT. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://www.occup-med.com/content/7/1/16 Keyboard layouts. (n.d.). - Deskthority wiki. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://deskthority.net/wiki/Keyboard_layouts Krzywinski, M. (n.d.). carpalx. Carpalx. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/carpalx/? Liebowitz, S., & Margolis, S. (n.d.). Typing Errors. Reason.com. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://reason.com/archives/1996/06/01/typing-errors Might, M. (n.d.). Handling repetitive strain injury. Preventing and healing repetitive strain injury (RSI) and carpal tunnel syndrome: Ergonomic tips, techniques and keyboards. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://matt.might.net/articles/preventing-and-managing-rsi/ Most ergonomic keyboard. (n.d.). Most ergonomic keyboard. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://mostergonomickeyboard.blogspot.com/