yeah ok i have read the wiki entry now, i was closeish... On Thu, 29 Jul 2004 11:50:00 +1200 Carl Cerecke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Nick Rout wrote: > > > qwerty was invented to slow down typists so that their typwriters did > > not jam so often, or so i was told once. it may be an urban legend, i > > have no authority for that proposition ither than remebering being told > > it. > > Not really. It was designed so that common letter pairs were far apart. > If you have ever played with an old typewriter, where the mechanical > arms hit the paper (well, the ribbon on top of the paper), you would > notice that if you hit two keys in quick succession, where those two > keys are physically close as well, the first mechanical arm does not > have time to get back to it's rest position before the second mechanical > arm comes down. As a result, they jam. > > In any case, e-r are a common pair, so that's not so good. Also, I think > the inventor wanted to be able to type "typewriter" quickly, so he put > all those letters on the top row. > > Cheers, > Carl. -- Nick Rout <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
