1868 TO 1878
Born on a typewriter
Christopher Latham Sholes and colleagues patented a typewriter in 1868. Remington began selling it in 1874, keys already in QWERTY order.
See the timelineYour keyboard's letter order is older than the light bulb.
It was settled on a typewriter sold from 1874, and historians still argue about why. Here is where the layout came from, what we know about how fast people really type, and the sources to check it all.
Plain English, with the sources linked.
Updated
Check your typing speedTHE SHORT ANSWER
A typewriter set the order.
The layout was fixed in the 1870s
and simply never went away.
MYTH OR HISTORY?
The jamming story, questioned
The classic tale says QWERTY kept typebars from jamming. Kyoto researchers pointed to telegraph operators instead.
Both sides
168,000 TYPISTS
How fast do people type?
A 2018 study of online typing tests found an average of 52 words per minute, with the fastest near 120.
Check your speedA QUICK SPEED CHECK
Where does your
typing speed sit?
Pick the speed closest to yours. The comparisons come from a 2018 study by Aalto University and the University of Cambridge, which analysed 136 million keystrokes from 168,000 volunteers.
Not sure of your speed? Any free online typing test gives a words-per-minute figure. A word is usually counted as five characters.
TWO THINGS WORTH KNOWING
Old layout,
new evidence.
One open question about the past,
one clear finding about today.
Jams or Morse?
Why the letters sit where they do
The familiar explanation is that common letter pairs were split up to stop typebars jamming. In 2011, Kyoto University researchers concluded that the mechanics did not shape the design, and that telegraph operators transcribing Morse code influenced the order.
THE LAYOUT · 1870s
40–70%
Keystrokes typed with "rollover"
The fastest typists pressed the next key before releasing the previous one on 40 to 70 per cent of keystrokes, whether or not they touch typed. Slower typists made more errors and took longer to fix them.
THE TYPISTS · 2018
The layout question may never be settled. What the typing data shows is clearer: speed has more to do with how keys flow together than with how many fingers you use.
TYPE BETTER
Four ideas
from the data.
Find your baseline
Take a short online typing test once and note the figure. The study's average was 52 words per minute, so you can see where you stand.
Don't worry about finger count
Self-taught typists using fewer than ten fingers were as fast as touch typists in the study. Consistent finger use matters more than the textbook method.
Let the keys flow
Fast typists often press the next key before letting go of the last. Practise common words as one movement rather than letter by letter.
Aim for accuracy first
In the data, faster typists made fewer mistakes, while slower ones spent longer correcting. Fewer backspaces is often the quickest gain.
KEYBOARD FACTS
Five things you may
not know.
It started out alphabetical
The early Sholes typewriter, patented in 1868, had a piano-like keyboard with about two dozen keys in alphabetical order. The layout changed over years of trial models.
It cost $125 in 1874
Remington began selling the Sholes and Glidden typewriter in 1874 for $125, which Smithsonian magazine puts at more than $3,000 in today's money.
Capitals only, typed blind
The first model printed upper case only, and struck the paper from underneath, so the typist had to lift the hinged carriage to check the work.
The shift key arrived in 1878
A new model in 1878 added a shift key, letting typists use both capital and lower-case letters on the same keys.
By 1891 it was everywhere
Remington claimed that more than 100,000 of its QWERTY typewriters were in use across the United States by 1891, which helped lock the layout in.
QUICK QUESTIONS
Keyboards, answered.
Short answers to the questions people ask most.
Why are keyboard letters laid out QWERTY?
The layout comes from the Sholes and Glidden typewriter, which Remington began selling in 1874. Its keyboard started out alphabetical and was rearranged over several years of trial models. Exactly why the final order was chosen is still debated.
Was QWERTY designed to slow typists down?
That is the popular story: the layout split up common letter pairs so the metal typebars would not jam. Researchers at Kyoto University argued in 2011 that the typewriter mechanics did not shape the design, and that telegraph operators transcribing Morse code influenced the order instead.
What is an average typing speed?
In a 2018 study of 168,000 volunteers who took an online typing test, the average was 52 words per minute. Most people typed between 30 and 60, and the fastest reached about 120.
Do I need to touch type with all ten fingers to be fast?
Not necessarily. The same study found that self-taught typists using fewer than ten fingers can be as fast as touch typists. People who had taken a typing course behaved much like those who had not.
Could the first typewriters type lower-case letters?
No. The Sholes and Glidden machine, made from 1874 to 1878, printed upper case only. A later model in 1878 added a shift key so typists could use both capitals and lower-case letters.
Sources
Where the facts come from
- Fact or fiction? The legend of the QWERTY keyboardSmithsonian Magazine
- Christopher Sholes: inventor profileLemelson-MIT
- The Sholes and Glidden Type-Writer, 1874 to 1878Cornell University Ergonomics
- Object history: the Sholes and Glidden typewriterWisconsin 101, University of Wisconsin
- The traits of fast typists, from 136 million keystrokesAalto University, 2018
- What makes a faster typist?University of Cambridge, 2018
A NAME WORTH TYPING
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