Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.editors
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: keyboards
Message-ID: <1988Jun13.195851.1729@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <5024@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Date: Mon, 13 Jun 88 19:58:51 GMT
Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac:17019 comp.editors:183

Several pieces of private mail have challenged my assertion that the
qwerty (Sholes) keyboard was not designed to slow down the typist.
Herewith some excerpts from a 24 Feb 1982 contribution to the Editor-
People mailing list by Donald Norman -- a name that should be familiar
to anyone who knows anything about computer-human-interaction work:

	"The Sholes keyboard (aka "qwerty") was designed for a
	typewriter so as to minimize the jamming of typebars as
	they moved to the platen.  This caused the placement of
	frequent pairs as far from one another as possible.  In
	fact, this SPEEDS typing because typing on alternate hands
	is faster than on the same hand (list of references and
	reprints of papers available on demand: see, for example,
	Rumelhart & Norman in the next Cognitive Science).  This
	point wasn't appreciated at the time because nobody thought
	of using all ten fingers, and typing without looking at the
	keyboard was unheard of...

	"There have been hundreds of studies comparing Dvorak
	arrangements with Sholes arrangements.  Dvorak fans claim
	massive improvements in speed...  However, experiments done
	by neutral parties tend to put the improvement around the
	5 to 10% range -- not worth the effort... you can get a far
	greater improvement in typing speed by moving the RETURN key,
	either to where it can be reached without distorting the hand
	(say by the left thumb...) or by having automatic RETURNs...

	"If you want to improve typing speed, don't tinker with the
	current key layout, but do dramatic re-arrangements [e.g. chord
	keyboards]."
-- 
"For perfect safety... sit on a fence|  Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
and watch the birds." --Wilbur Wright| {ihnp4,decvax,uunet!mnetor}!utzoo!henry