Today Ryan Learned the History of the QWERTY Keyboard [VIDEO]

I have been typing on some sort of keyboard since first learning to type during my sophomore year in high school some time ago, and until earlier this week, I never put much thought into why the keys are laid out the way they are. Thanks to a quick Googling, now I do. This is what I found out.

The standard layout we all use day in and day out on our computers, tablets, and phones is known as the QWERTY layout after the top row of letters from left to right. The design was created back in 1874 by a man named Christopher Sholes, who worked Remington & Sons, the company responsible for the manufacturing of the first commercial typewriter. Sholes design was born out of necessity to prevent typewriter arms from jamming together as the video below illustrates:

As the video mentions, the QWERTY layout, commonly used here in the states, is not the only game in town so to speak. There's also Dvorak layout created by Dr. August Dvorak which is designed to keep the distance traveled by a users fingers to a minimum (here's what it looks like if you're interested).

So there you have it. Now you know to thank (or blame) Christopher Sholes for all the depressing status updates in your Facebook news feed.

[Source: How Stuff Works.com]