on QWERTY. Without conclusive proof of the benefits of Dvorak, companies were not prepared to invest in staff retraining.
• There is still a general lack of awareness about the existence of the Dvorak keyboard.
• Proponents have failed to persuade manufacturers to mass-produce the Dvorak keyboard. Try out Dvorak

In Windows® XP, you can switch your keyb

QWERTY keyboards – so named after the first six keys on the top row – were never designed to be efficient. That’s because the first typewriters were not robust enough to handle high-speed key combinations.

It is thought that designers deliberately separated the most common pairs of letters to prevent the type bars from jamming. Yet, despite the introduction of more durable keyboards later on, the QWERTY standard survived.

Today, it's still the norm as most keyboards are based on QWERTY.

QWERTY's monopoly

Many have exposed flaws in the QWERTY design by citing English words that are particularly awkward to type, such as "minimum" and "monopoly" (both must be typed single-handedly). Yet, if it's not the most efficient or most ergonomic layout, why has it survived - indeed, prospered - for so long?

After all, it hasn't been our only choice. The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard (DSK) was introduced 70 years after QWERTY but never achieved widespread use, despite claims it enabled greater typing speeds and comfort.

QWERTY vs. Dvorak

Dvorak's failure to gain market acceptance has been attributed to various factors:
• There has been minimal research conducted on the efficiency of keyboard layouts - and the few results there are have not been well publicised.
• Research results have not been unanimous. Some show DSK to be up to 40% quicker; others a mere 2%. The rest, somewhere in between.
• When DSK appeared, many were already trained on QWERTY. Without conclusive proof of the benefits of Dvorak, companies were not prepared to invest in staff retraining.
• There is still a general lack of awareness about the existence of the Dvorak keyboard.
• Proponents have failed to persuade manufacturers to mass-produce the Dvorak keyboard. Try out Dvorak

In Windows® XP, you can switch your keybo

urable keyboards later on, the QWERTY standard survived.

Today, it's still the norm as most keyboards are based on QWERTY.

QWERTY's monopoly

Many have exposed flaws in the QWERTY design by citing English words that are particularly awkward to type, such as "minimum" and "monopoly" (both must be typed single-handedly). Yet, if it's not the most efficient or most ergonomic layout, why has it survived - indeed, prospered - for so long?

After all, it hasn't been our only choice. The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard (DSK) was introduced 70 years after QWERTY but never achieved widespread use, despite claims it enabled greater typing speeds and comfort.

QWERTY vs. Dvorak

Dvorak's failure to gain market acceptance has been attributed to various factors:
• There has been minimal research conducted on the efficiency of keyboard layouts - and the few results there are have not been well publicised.
• Research results have not been unanimous. Some show DSK to be up to 40% quicker; others a mere 2%. The rest, somewhere in between.
• When DSK appeared, many were already trained on QWERTY. Without conclusive proof of the benefits of Dvorak, companies were not prepared to invest in staff retraining.
• There is still a general lack of awareness about the existence of the Dvorak keyboard.
• Proponents have failed to persuade manufacturers to mass-produce the Dvorak keyboard. Try out Dvorak

In Windows® XP, you can switch your keyb

most ergonomic layout, why has it survived - indeed, prospered - for so long?

After all, it hasn't been our only choice. The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard (DSK) was introduced 70 years after QWERTY but never achieved widespread use, despite claims it enabled greater typing speeds and comfort.

QWERTY vs. Dvorak

Dvorak's failure to gain market acceptance has been attributed to various factors:
• There has been minimal research conducted on the efficiency of keyboard layouts - and the few results there are have not been well publicised.
• Research results have not been unanimous. Some show DSK to be up to 40% quicker; others a mere 2%. The rest, somewhere in between.
• When DSK appeared, many were already trained on QWERTY. Without conclusive proof of the benefits of Dvorak, companies were not prepared to invest in staff retraining.
• There is still a general lack of awareness about the existence of the Dvorak keyboard.
• Proponents have failed to persuade manufacturers to mass-produce the Dvorak keyboard. Try out Dvorak

In Windows® XP, you can switch your keyb

een attributed to various factors:
• There has been minimal research conducted on the efficiency of keyboard layouts - and the few results there are have not been well publicised.
• Research results have not been unanimous. Some show DSK to be up to 40% quicker; others a mere 2%. The rest, somewhere in between.
• When DSK appeared, many were already trained on QWERTY. Without conclusive proof of the benefits of Dvorak, companies were not prepared to invest in staff retraining.
• There is still a general lack of awareness about the existence of the Dvorak keyboard.
• Proponents have failed to persuade manufacturers to mass-produce the Dvorak keyboard. Try out Dvorak

In Windows® XP, you can switch your keyb

on QWERTY. Without conclusive proof of the benefits of Dvorak, companies were not prepared to invest in staff retraining.
• There is still a general lack of awareness about the existence of the Dvorak keyboard.
• Proponents have failed to persuade manufacturers to mass-produce the Dvorak keyboard. Try out Dvorak

In Windows® XP, you can switch your keyboard settings to the US Dvorak layout. Typists, particular those who suffer from aching fingers, hands or even repetitive strain injury, may find it an interesting alternative:

1. Go to Start, Settings and then Control Panel
2. Click on Regional and Language Options
3. From the Languages tab, click Details.
4. Click the Add button
5. Under Keyboard Layout/IME, select United States-Dvorak (or Left- or Right-handed), then click OK.
6. If you want it to be default, select United States-Dvorak again in the Default input language pull-down
7. Click OK to close the control panel.

Once completing, you will of course need to re-label all your keys.

Learn more about how to arrange your PC, monitor, keyboard and mouse ergonomically.

The future of typing?

So will QWERTY ever be dislodged? Microsoft® is currently working on a project entitled "The Wild Thing". While not a direct threat to QWERTY, if successful, Wild Thing could revolutionise the future of e-communication.

The application is designed to speed up data entry on the small numeric pads typical of mobile phones and handhelds, where 2 is ABC, 3 DEF, and so on.

To type an "h", the user moves his or her finger or stylus to pad no. 3 (for letters G, H, I, J and K) and then to block No. 2 (because H is the second letter in the previously selected group).

While this might sound like a lot of pressing, the goal is to enable users to type up to 45 words per