Keyboard Wars — QWERTY vs. Dvorak
How I put both layouts to the test and found the answer to fast typing
Qwerty — the standard
The ubiquitous qwerty layout was initially invented in 1873, as an improvement over early prototypes of alphabetically-arranged keys — for typewriters. Yet, the configuration of the letters was spaced out somewhat widely, in terms of where the most commonly used letters and pairings were to be found— which was less comfortable and fluid than the configuration offered by an alphabetical ordering. Typewriters were known for jamming — if commonly paired keys were placed too close together. When electronic keyboards were invented, which don’t jam, everyone was used to Qwerty already, so they didn’t learn another way.
Dvorak Simplified Keyboard — military efficiency
A naval officer named August Dvorak invented this layout for keyboards in 1936, which was intended to make typing easier and faster — as an advancement over Qwerty. It boasted a variety of statistically promising attributes, like having 70% of common English words accessible on the home row, and featuring a more balanced split between the two hands. In many ways, it was a great invention.
