Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: 23 May 91 16:14:28 GMT From: Brian Kantor Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Why Are *Telephone Keypads* Built Upside Down Message-ID: Organization: The Avant-Garde of the Now, Ltd. Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 393, Message 12 of 14 Lines: 34 In article jmason@utcs.utoronto.ca (Jamie Mason) writes: > Sounds a lot like the querty keyboard which also (according to > folklore) was designed to slow people down so they would no jam > typewriter keys. As I recall, the then Bell Labs conducted research on the various configurations for the touch-tone dial, and found that the one currently used seemed to be the easiest (i.e., fastest with fewest errors) to use for a reasonable large sample of the general public. I recall reading the research results, with the scores for the various configurations, what must be nearly two decades ago. If I could recall the source, I would certainly cite it here, but my memory isn't that good. As for the QUERTY keyboard layout, it was a result of laying out the keyboard for mechanical efficiency -- so that the commonest letter pairs would be operated from opposite sides of the machine so that the type bars containing those letters would have the lowest chance to collide. If you have ever typed on a true typebar-style mechanical typewriter, you have undoubtedly had to clear a key jam, so you know why that is important. The "speed" myth is debunked in more than a few of the "urban myth" books, as well as in previous articles in this group. Is it that most people feel so frustrated with their lives that they just automatically tend to believe an explanation that seems most anti-human, or what? Brian