June 24, 2010 at 21:31Deprecated QWERTY Layout Against Apple and Other Inventors
One of the most beloved examples in my practice, illustrating that the standards set a hundred years ago, remain unshakable. Habit wins the best decisions and takes them out of the game. This example may allow you to save your time and energy, not to improve those things that do not need to be changed. For example, do not create a keyboard for mobile phones other than the existing QWERTY or the usual alphanumeric, do not come up with a replacement for the usual program that copes with its task on millions of computers and does not require special attention from users. A kind of anthem against invention, but useless invention, dictated by the desire to improve existing technologies that have become standard. Be reasonable and approach wisely what you intend to improve. After this entry,
When was the QWERTY layout invented and for what?
Feel free to guess what year it happened. With the advent of computers? Not. With the advent of typewriters? Yes, it’s already much warmer. And why did the layout become so? The answer lies in the fact that the inventor of the first commercially successful typewriter tried to make text input into it as slow as possible. So stop it. This is not a typo, the machine was designed to be very slow when typing. This is a conscious decision. It sounds strange and stupid, but to understand the reason, you need to remember the whole story.
Typewriters have been known for a long time, the first mention of such an aggregate dates back to 1714, then with each decade the “inventors” of typewriters become more and more, but their devices are not in demand, they look like a technical curiosity. An obstacle to the distribution of cars is their price, as well as the lack of demand for them. The contents of the clerk for a couple of years will cost as much as asking for a typewriter in the 1800s. This is an expensive device, there is no use for it, since the literacy of the population of most European countries remains low, and people doing business do not see the need for office work at a new technical level. As a historical joke, you can interpret the creation in 1808 of a typewriter for the Italian countess, who was blind. With her help,
The boom in the development of typewriters is associated with the development of business in the United States in the 1860s, there was a need for such devices from companies. And many inventors began to create their own types of typewriters. Suffice it to say that among them was Thomas Edison, who was always distinguished by a commercial flair for advanced technologies. The typewriter for the 1860s was the most real high technology and required a combination of existing technologies (metal, mechanics, dyes).
The inventor of the first successful machine, Christopher Scholes was a printer, and also was fond of mechanics. With his friends, he built a prototype of the first typewriter and in October 1867 received a patent for it. The machine turned out not too good, the ink cartridge covered the print area, when typing, no text was visible, as a result, any printing error forced me to get down to business again. The next 6 years, Scholz is working to correct the shortcomings of his offspring and by 1873 has a revised version. All these years, he has been supported by James Dansmore, who is engaged in business and sees the potential for such a device. In 1873, he agreed with the companies Remington & Sons (those same Remington guns) that they would be engaged in the production of machines, and also, if possible, would bring the design to an ideal. For the Remington company in those years, there was a decline in sales, weapons were not needed in such quantities, they needed to find new areas of application. And the company succeeded, because even in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, Remington was associated not with a rifle, but with a typewriter.
The commercial name of the Type Writer, the QWERTY layout, is almost created. Scholz uses the trial method to make typing the slowest. Otherwise, the keys will stick, upon impact, two adjacent hammers may be triggered, and errors occur. Shoals task to achieve stable operation of the machine. Given that there are almost no similar products on the market, and there is no standard, he expects to improve the speed of typing in subsequent products. And so one of the most popular layouts is created. Remington’s mechanics add their own touch, they remove the dot sign from the top row of keys, replace it with the letter R. This is an advertising move, using only the top row of keys you can type TYPE WRITER. The first typewriter does not support case for letters, the font has one height.
The cost of the first machine is $ 125, for 1873 this is a significant amount. In 1908, the Ford T will cost $ 850, feel the proportionality of prices. Sales are quite sluggish, but already in 1878, the second generation of cars appears. By 1880, a total of about 5,000 cars with a QWERTY layout were sold. “Type Writer” at this point has a lot of competitors, the layout of different machines is different. Until 1905, there was no single standard for layout, Scholz's company was on the verge of profitability. But the class of typists is emerging, QWERTY chooses (not because of the convenience of typing and layout, these typewriters are popular, they are given the primacy in the market). But the choice of typists does not affect what enterprises buy, the decision is made by the owners or managers. For them, the choice of QWERTY is the choice of cheap employees, the possibility of changing them if necessary. There are typists on the market who are well acquainted with this system and this plays a decisive role. QWERTY standard is set.
In the 20th century, many tried to change the layout of QWERTY. Some attempts lasted for years, for example, the Dvorak layout allows typing 20-40 percent faster, since the most frequently used characters are within the reach of the fingers on the keyboard. At one time, Apple computers even had a switch to this layout, but it still did not take root. The market chose the standard and resisted its change. There are more than a dozen alternative keyboards, but not one has ever become popular. What is the reason? Probably, the army of users of standard QWERTY is not ready to relearn, as well as companies are not ready to sacrifice current labor productivity in order to switch to a new type of keyboard, which, moreover, is not a generally accepted standard. This example shows that standards, no matter how old they are, the best technical solutions often win. And therefore, when creating something, one must remember this. Improvement is not always progress; often it is not needed. I hope these considerations help you not to waste your time in futile attempts to fix something that does not need it. Or think about how important such improvements are.
When was the QWERTY layout invented and for what?
Feel free to guess what year it happened. With the advent of computers? Not. With the advent of typewriters? Yes, it’s already much warmer. And why did the layout become so? The answer lies in the fact that the inventor of the first commercially successful typewriter tried to make text input into it as slow as possible. So stop it. This is not a typo, the machine was designed to be very slow when typing. This is a conscious decision. It sounds strange and stupid, but to understand the reason, you need to remember the whole story.
Typewriters have been known for a long time, the first mention of such an aggregate dates back to 1714, then with each decade the “inventors” of typewriters become more and more, but their devices are not in demand, they look like a technical curiosity. An obstacle to the distribution of cars is their price, as well as the lack of demand for them. The contents of the clerk for a couple of years will cost as much as asking for a typewriter in the 1800s. This is an expensive device, there is no use for it, since the literacy of the population of most European countries remains low, and people doing business do not see the need for office work at a new technical level. As a historical joke, you can interpret the creation in 1808 of a typewriter for the Italian countess, who was blind. With her help,
The boom in the development of typewriters is associated with the development of business in the United States in the 1860s, there was a need for such devices from companies. And many inventors began to create their own types of typewriters. Suffice it to say that among them was Thomas Edison, who was always distinguished by a commercial flair for advanced technologies. The typewriter for the 1860s was the most real high technology and required a combination of existing technologies (metal, mechanics, dyes).
The inventor of the first successful machine, Christopher Scholes was a printer, and also was fond of mechanics. With his friends, he built a prototype of the first typewriter and in October 1867 received a patent for it. The machine turned out not too good, the ink cartridge covered the print area, when typing, no text was visible, as a result, any printing error forced me to get down to business again. The next 6 years, Scholz is working to correct the shortcomings of his offspring and by 1873 has a revised version. All these years, he has been supported by James Dansmore, who is engaged in business and sees the potential for such a device. In 1873, he agreed with the companies Remington & Sons (those same Remington guns) that they would be engaged in the production of machines, and also, if possible, would bring the design to an ideal. For the Remington company in those years, there was a decline in sales, weapons were not needed in such quantities, they needed to find new areas of application. And the company succeeded, because even in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, Remington was associated not with a rifle, but with a typewriter.
The commercial name of the Type Writer, the QWERTY layout, is almost created. Scholz uses the trial method to make typing the slowest. Otherwise, the keys will stick, upon impact, two adjacent hammers may be triggered, and errors occur. Shoals task to achieve stable operation of the machine. Given that there are almost no similar products on the market, and there is no standard, he expects to improve the speed of typing in subsequent products. And so one of the most popular layouts is created. Remington’s mechanics add their own touch, they remove the dot sign from the top row of keys, replace it with the letter R. This is an advertising move, using only the top row of keys you can type TYPE WRITER. The first typewriter does not support case for letters, the font has one height.
The cost of the first machine is $ 125, for 1873 this is a significant amount. In 1908, the Ford T will cost $ 850, feel the proportionality of prices. Sales are quite sluggish, but already in 1878, the second generation of cars appears. By 1880, a total of about 5,000 cars with a QWERTY layout were sold. “Type Writer” at this point has a lot of competitors, the layout of different machines is different. Until 1905, there was no single standard for layout, Scholz's company was on the verge of profitability. But the class of typists is emerging, QWERTY chooses (not because of the convenience of typing and layout, these typewriters are popular, they are given the primacy in the market). But the choice of typists does not affect what enterprises buy, the decision is made by the owners or managers. For them, the choice of QWERTY is the choice of cheap employees, the possibility of changing them if necessary. There are typists on the market who are well acquainted with this system and this plays a decisive role. QWERTY standard is set.
In the 20th century, many tried to change the layout of QWERTY. Some attempts lasted for years, for example, the Dvorak layout allows typing 20-40 percent faster, since the most frequently used characters are within the reach of the fingers on the keyboard. At one time, Apple computers even had a switch to this layout, but it still did not take root. The market chose the standard and resisted its change. There are more than a dozen alternative keyboards, but not one has ever become popular. What is the reason? Probably, the army of users of standard QWERTY is not ready to relearn, as well as companies are not ready to sacrifice current labor productivity in order to switch to a new type of keyboard, which, moreover, is not a generally accepted standard. This example shows that standards, no matter how old they are, the best technical solutions often win. And therefore, when creating something, one must remember this. Improvement is not always progress; often it is not needed. I hope these considerations help you not to waste your time in futile attempts to fix something that does not need it. Or think about how important such improvements are.