QWERTY layout persisted due to mechanical typewriter constraints
Every day, millions type on QWERTY keyboards, even though it was originally designed to slow them down.
People tend to assume that some engineer designed it that way to be perverse, to win some obscure bet about slowing down the world. As if deliberate inefficiency is the highest form of humor. Originally, the odd placement of letters minimized mechanical jams in old typewriters. Separating common letter pairs like 'E' and 'R' kept the keys from clashing. But electric typewriters didn't need that spacing. The physical limitation simply disappeared. Yet QWERTY persisted. Training and manufacturing were already aligned. So the world kept typing on a layout designed for a problem that no longer existed.
The QWERTY layout remains a testament to how habits solidify, and how we adapt to the tools at hand, even when better designs beckon just beyond our fingertips.
Source link: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/fact-fiction-the-legend-of-qwerty-1780494/