Misplaced Pages

#882117

127-483: Dvorak / ˈ d v ɔːr æ k / is a keyboard layout for English patented in 1936 by August Dvorak and his brother-in-law, William Dealey, as a faster and more ergonomic alternative to the QWERTY layout (the de facto standard keyboard layout). Dvorak proponents claim that it requires less finger motion and as a result reduces errors, increases typing speed, reduces repetitive strain injuries , or

254-472: A with acute accent ), Compose followed by A and then E results in æ ( ae ligature ), and Compose followed by O and then C results in © (circled c , copyright symbol ). The Compose key is supported by the X Window System (used by most Unix-like operating systems , including most Linux distributions ). Some keyboards have a key labeled "Compose", but any key can be configured to serve this function. For example,

381-408: A "scancode to character" conversion table, called the keyboard mapping table. This means that a physical keyboard may be dynamically mapped to any layout without switching hardware components—merely by changing the software that interprets the keystrokes. Often, a user can change keyboard mapping in system settings. In addition, software may be available to modify or extend keyboard functionality. Thus

508-526: A Dvorak one without any problems or additional configuration. This eliminates the burden of producing additional keymaps for every variant of QWERTY provided. Runtime layout switching is also possible. ChromeOS and ChromiumOS offer Dvorak, and there are three different ways to switch the keyboard to the Dvorak layout. ChromeOS includes the US Dvorak and UK Dvorak layouts. Apple had Dvorak advocates since

635-400: A dead key by default, or sometimes a normal key can temporarily be altered to function as a dead key by simultaneously holding down the secondary-shift key— AltGr or ⌥ Option : a typical example might be AltGr + 6   a will produce â (assuming the "6" key is also the "^" key). In some systems, there is no indication to the user that a dead key has been struck, so

762-538: A few layouts: QWERTY, Dvorak, French ( AZERTY ), and other foreign-language layouts. Since about 1998, beginning with Mac OS 8.6 , Apple has included the Dvorak layout. It can be activated with the Keyboard Control Panel and selecting "Dvorak". The setting is applied once the Control Panel is closed out. Apple also includes a Dvorak variant they call "Dvorak – Qwerty ⌘". With this layout,

889-465: A key that would temporarily interrupt the communications line. The Break key can be used by software in several different ways, such as to switch between multiple login sessions, to terminate a program, or to interrupt a modem connection. In programming, especially old DOS-style BASIC, Pascal and C, Break is used (in conjunction with Ctrl) to stop program execution. In addition to this, Linux and variants, as well as many DOS programs, treat this combination

1016-533: A keyboard layout that automatically switches to standard (QWERTY) after pressing the two hotkeys (SHIFT and CTRL). Many operating systems based on UNIX , including OpenBSD , FreeBSD , NetBSD , OpenSolaris , Plan 9 , and most Linux distributions , can be configured to use the U.S. Dvorak layout and a handful of variants. Furthermore, all current Unix-like systems with X.Org and appropriate keymaps installed (and virtually all systems meant for desktop use include them) are able to use any QWERTY-labeled keyboard as

1143-399: A keyboard; it is this (rather than the legends) that determines the actual response to a key press. Modern computer keyboards are designed to send a scancode to the operating system (OS) when a key is pressed or released. This code reports only the key's row and column, not the specific character engraved on that key. The OS converts the scancode into a specific binary character code using

1270-405: A letter with a specific diacritic. For example, on some keyboard layouts, the grave accent key ` is a dead key: in this case, striking ` and then A results in à ( a with grave accent); ` followed by ⇧ Shift + E results in È ( E with grave accent). A grave accent in isolated form can be typed by striking ` and then Space bar . A key may function as

1397-485: A lighter touch for such characters as the period or comma, which did not occupy as much area on the paper. Since an electric typewriter supplied the force to the typebar itself after the typist merely touched the key, the typewriter itself had to be designed to supply different forces for different characters. To simplify this, the most common layout for electric typewriters in the United States differed from that for

SECTION 10

#1732798486883

1524-598: A machine gun belt feed for the French government and 50 caliber machine gun mounts for aircraft. George Blickensderfer died on August 15, 1917, after a short illness. With the brilliant chief engineer and designer gone, his company could not continue, and the heirs sold it in 1919. After several unsuccessful years under different ownership, the Remington Typewriter Company acquired the assets, including tools, parts, drawings and intellectual rights, from

1651-424: A manual typewriter. This was imperfect, as some shifted special characters were moved one key to the left, as the number zero, although on the right, was low in code sequence. Later, when computer terminals were designed from less expensive electronic components, it was not necessary to have any bits in common between the shifted and unshifted characters on a given key. This eventually led to standards being adopted for

1778-406: A modifier key is held down while another key is struck. To facilitate this, modifier keys usually come in pairs, one functionally identical key for each hand, so holding a modifier key with one hand leaves the other hand free to strike another key. An alphanumeric key labelled with only a single letter (usually the capital form) can generally be struck to type either a lower case or capital letter,

1905-523: A national flag that matches the current language, a 'DV' represents Dvorak and a 'DQ' represents Dvorak – Qwerty ⌘) brings up a drop-down menu, allowing the user to choose the desired layout. Subsequent keystrokes will reflect the choice, which can be reversed the same way. Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" and later offer a keyboard identifier program that asks users to press a few keys on their keyboards. Dvorak, QWERTY and many national variations of those designs are available. If multiple keyboards are connected to

2032-588: A new and modern factory on Atlantic Street in Stamford. According to an article published by the Stamford Historical Society, "Blickensderfer's typewriter ... became the world's best seller, and the company became one of the world's largest typewriter manufacturers." The factory employed about 200 people and produced about 10,000 typewriters per year at its peak (1903-1907) until the factory closed in 1919. The first commercially successful model

2159-631: A number of new patents were filed for the Blickensderfer 5 up to June 1, 1897, when the machine largely remained the same for the balance of its production life. Blickensderfer continued to invent new machines until his death, including the Blickensderfer Electric and various standard machines with the Blickensderfer 9 being his last major new model. The typewheel, like the later typeball of the IBM Selectric typewriter ,

2286-412: A paragraph of text and advance an editing cursor to the start of the next available line, similar to the "carriage return" key of a typewriter. When the attached system is processing a user command line , pressing "enter" may signal that the command has been completely entered and that the system may now process it. Shift key: when one presses shift and a letter, it will capitalize the letter pressed with

2413-419: A patent in 1932 – most notably in the placement of Z. Today's keyboards have more keys than the original typewriter did, and other significant differences existed: Modern U.S. Dvorak layouts almost always place ; and : together on a single key, and / and ? together on a single key. Thus, if the keycaps of a modern keyboard are rearranged so that the unshifted symbol characters match

2540-516: A single finger to jump directly from one row, over the home row to another row (e.g., typing "minimum" [which often comes out as "minimun" or "mimimum"] on the QWERTY keyboard). In the English language, there are about 1,200 words that require a hurdle on the QWERTY layout. In contrast, there are only a few words requiring a hurdle on the Dvorak layout (e.g. "spiky", where the "piky" is typed entirely on

2667-454: A standard for the Dvorak layout known as ANSI X4.22-1983. This standard gave the Dvorak layout official recognition as an alternative to the QWERTY keyboard. The layout standardized by the ANSI differs from the original or "classic" layout devised and promulgated by Dvorak. Indeed, the layout promulgated publicly by Dvorak differed slightly from the layout for which Dvorak & Dealey applied for

SECTION 20

#1732798486883

2794-514: A switch, the user could switch from one layout to the other. This modification was entirely unofficial but was inadvertently demonstrated at the 1984 Comdex show, in Las Vegas , by an Apple employee whose mission was to demonstrate Apple Logo II. The employee had become accustomed to the Dvorak layout and brought the necessary parts to the show, installed them in a demo machine, then did his Logo demo. Viewers, curious that he always reached behind

2921-554: A type of shift key, such that one or more following characters were interpreted differently, hence the term escape sequence , which refers to a series of characters, usually preceded by the escape character . On machines running Microsoft Windows, prior to the implementation of the Windows key on keyboards, the typical practice for invoking the "start" button was to hold down the control key and press escape. This process still works in Windows 10 and 11. An "enter" key may terminate

3048-683: A user to switch to the Dvorak layout. The layout can be chosen for use with any hardware keyboard, regardless of any characters printed on the key caps. Several modifications were designed by the team directed by Dvorak or by ANSI . These variations have been collectively or individually termed the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard , the American Simplified Keyboard or simply the Simplified Keyboard , but they all have come to be known commonly as

3175-514: A very influential electric typewriter, which was imitated by computer keyboards; and the IBM PC (1981), namely the Model M (1985), which is the basis for many modern keyboard layouts. Within a community, keyboard layout is generally quite stable, due to the high training cost of touch-typing , and the resulting network effect of having a standard layout and high switching cost of retraining, and

3302-488: Is 1.4) that allows anyone to easily create any keyboard layout desired, thus allowing the creation and installation of any international Dvorak keyboard layout such as Dvorak Type II (for German), Svorak (for Swedish) etc. Another advantage of the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator with respect to third-party programs for installing an international Dvorak layout is that it allows creation of

3429-479: Is especially useful when using a terminal, X11 (a Unix environment included with OS X as an install option) or MS Windows . The key can generally be used to produce a secondary mouse click as well. There is also a Fn key on modern Mac keyboards, which is used for switching between use of the F1 , F2 , etc. keys either as function keys or for other functions like media control, accessing Spotlight , controlling

3556-417: Is intended for the English language. For other European languages, letter frequencies, letter sequences, and bigrams differ from those of English. Also, many languages have letters that do not occur in English. For non-English use, these differences lessen the alleged advantages of the original Dvorak keyboard. However, the Dvorak principles have been applied to the design of keyboards for other languages, though

3683-646: Is only a small part of the complicated physical activity of typing. The work of Dvorak paved the way for other optimized keyboard layouts for English such as Colemak , but also for other languages such as the German Neo and the French BÉPO . Over the decades, symbol keys were shifted around the keyboard resulting in variations of the Dvorak design. In 1982, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) implemented

3810-412: Is simply more comfortable than QWERTY. Dvorak has failed to replace QWERTY as the most common keyboard layout, with the most pointed-to reasons being that QWERTY was popularized 60 years prior to Dvorak's creation, and that Dvorak's advantages are debated and relatively small. However, most major modern operating systems (such as Windows , macOS , Linux , iOS , Android , ChromeOS , and BSD ) allow

3937-573: Is to trigger the Stop button in many web browsers and operating systems. ESC was part of the standard keyboard of the Teletype Model 33 (introduced in 1964 and used with many early minicomputers). The DEC VT50 , introduced July 1974, also had an Esc key. The TECO text editor (c. 1963) and its descendant Emacs ( c.  1985 ) use the Esc key extensively. Historically it also served as

Dvorak keyboard layout - Misplaced Pages Continue

4064-473: Is very similar to the IBM Selectric design introduced almost 70 years later in 1961. Like the Selectric, one could easily change the typeface or the font style on a Blickensderfer simply by changing the typewheel. Blickensderfers were also notable for their unique keyboard layout developed by George Blickensderfer after careful analysis of the English language. The home, or lowest row of keys, contained

4191-511: The Ctrl , Alt and AltGr keys seen on commodity keyboards, Apple Keyboards have ⌘ Cmd ( command ) and ⌥ Option keys. The ⌥ Option key is used much like the AltGr , and the ⌘ Cmd key like the Ctrl and Alt , to access menu options and shortcuts. Macs have a Ctrl key for compatibility with programs that expect a more traditional keyboard layout. It

4318-472: The Crandall 1 typewriter in 1883 but Blickensderfer's genius was in the use of the typewheel combined with the simplicity and the small size of his machine. This invention was unlike anything else on the market and was considered a mechanical marvel that took typewriter engineering to a new level. Striking a key turned the wheel to the appropriate orientation while inking the typeface as it tipped downward past

4445-469: The Dvorak keyboard or Dvorak layout . Dvorak was designed with the belief that it would significantly increase typing speeds with respect to the QWERTY layout by alleviating some of its perceived shortcomings, such as: August Dvorak studied letter frequencies and the physiology of the hand and created a new layout to alleviate the above problems, based on the following principles: The Dvorak layout

4572-471: The Latin script , the center, alphanumeric portion of the modern keyboard is most often based on the QWERTY design by Christopher Sholes . Sholes' layout was long thought to have been laid out in such a way that common two-letter combinations were placed on opposite sides of the keyboard so that his mechanical keyboard would not jam. However, evidence for this claim has often been contested. In 2012, an argument

4699-652: The XO laptop , which does not have a ⇪ Caps Lock . The UNIX keyboard layout also differs in the placement of the Esc key, which is to the left of 1 . Some early keyboards experimented with using large numbers of modifier keys. The most extreme example of such a keyboard, the so-called " space-cadet keyboard " found on MIT LISP machines , had no fewer than seven modifier keys: four control keys, Ctrl , Meta , Hyper , and Super , along with three shift keys, ⇧ Shift , Top , and Front . This allowed

4826-582: The language bar in Microsoft Windows ) that allow the user to easily switch between functional layouts. For example, a user with a Swedish keyboard who wishes to type more easily in German may switch to a functional layout intended for German—without regard to key markings. A touch typist skilled in the use of another language layout can use a keyboard with English-language legends if it is remapped to their familiar layout, because they rarely look at

4953-517: The layout of a keyboard may refer to its physical (arrangement of keys), visual (physical labeling of keys), or functional (software response to a key press or release) layout. Physical layouts only address tangible differences among keyboards. When a key is pressed, the keyboard does not send a message such as the A-key is depressed but rather the left-most main key of the home row is depressed . (Technically, each key has an internal reference number,

5080-463: The most commonly used letters . Blickensderfer determined that 85% of words contained these letters, DHIATENSOR . This positioning allowed the typist to keep his hands on the home row as much as possible, minimizing extraneous hand movement and increasing efficiency. The QWERTY keyboard introduced on the Sholes & Glidden typewriter in 1874 was designed for purely mechanical reasons and the chances of

5207-410: The " ASDF " and " JKL; " keys). The row containing said keys is called the home row. The more strokes there are in the home row, the less movement the fingers must do, thus allowing a typist to type faster, more accurately, and with less strain to the hand and fingers. According to letter frequency analysis, the majority of the Dvorak layout's key strokes (70%) are done in the home row, claimed to be

Dvorak keyboard layout - Misplaced Pages Continue

5334-455: The "bit-pairing" and "typewriter-pairing" forms of keyboards for computer terminals. The typewriter-pairing standard came under reconsideration, on the basis that typewriters have many different keyboard arrangements. The U.S. keyboard for the IBM PC, although it resembles the typewriter-pairing standard in most respects, differs in one significant respect: the braces are on the same two keys as

5461-520: The 'Start' (applications) menu. Keyboard layouts have evolved over time, usually alongside major technology changes. Particularly influential have been: the Sholes and Glidden typewriter (1874, also known as Remington No. 1), the first commercially successful typewriter, which introduced QWERTY ; its successor, the Remington No. 2 (1878), which introduced the shift key; the IBM Selectric (1961),

5588-491: The Blickensderfer 6, which was cast in aluminium and was essentially a lighter version of the Blickensderfer 5 which used cast iron. The aluminium version also appeared as the Blickensderfer Featherweight, which was an improved Model 6 with a backspace mechanism and the ink arm support was modified to an attractive curved folding design. These typewriters weighed only 5 pounds and were widely marketed as

5715-407: The Blickensderfer Featherweight. Only about 10,000 machines were produced, ending in 1919. On August 4, 1891, after several prototypes, Blickensderfer patented The Blickensderfer Type Writing Machine. The central component was the use of the cylindrical shaped interchangeable type element which he initially patented on July 15, 1890. An earlier variation to Blickensderfer's typewheel was introduced on

5842-487: The Blickensderfer typewriter was the scientific or DHIATENSOR keyboard. The DHIATENSOR layout is shown below (with alphanumeric characters only): Blickensderfer analyzed the English language and proposed a unique and more efficient keyboard based on his research. He determined that the ten most frequently used letters were A, D, E, H, I, N, O, R, S, and T, and were used in about 70% of written text and in about 85% of all words. The middle row contained letters that occurred 24% of

5969-474: The Dvorak keyboard mapping , though it was purportedly available through undocumented interfaces. In the early days, Macintosh users could only use the Dvorak layout by editing the "System" file using Apple's "RESource EDITor" ResEdit  – which allowed users to create and edit keyboard layouts, icons, and other interface components. By 1994, a package named 'Electric Dvorak' by John Rethorst provided an easily user-installable "implementation [that]

6096-583: The Dvorak keyboard layout increased by the early 1950s. Numerous businesses and government organizations began to consider retraining their typists on Dvorak keyboards. In this environment, the General Services Administration commissioned Earle Strong to determine whether the switch from QWERTY to Dvorak should be made. After retraining a selection of typists from QWERTY to Dvorak, once the Dvorak group had regained their previous typing speed (which took 100 hours of training, more than

6223-494: The Dvorak layout uses about 63% of the finger motion required by QWERTY, which is claimed to make the keyboard more ergonomic. Because the Dvorak layout requires less finger motion from the typist compared to QWERTY, some users with repetitive strain injuries have reported that switching from QWERTY to Dvorak alleviated or even eliminated their repetitive strain injuries; however, no scientific study has been conducted verifying this. The typing loads between hands differs for each of

6350-476: The Five-Pound Secretary. The Model 7, first introduced in 1897, became the deluxe version of the basic No. 5 and was designed to please a greater cross section of the market. The biggest and most obvious difference was the wraparound space bar, which gave the machine a more solid and distinctive look. Blickensderfer also improved the paper scale, added black composite carriage knobs at both ends of

6477-511: The No. 1 (1874)—though 1 and 0 were added later—shifted keys date in some cases to the No. 2 (1878), in other cases to the Selectric (1961), and modifier key placement largely dates to the Model M (1985); function key placement typically dates to the Model M, but varies significantly, particularly on laptops. The earliest mechanical keyboards were used in musical instruments to play particular notes. With

SECTION 50

#1732798486883

6604-450: The OS when connected (though the user is still able to reset this at will). Today, most keyboards use one of three different physical layouts, usually referred to as simply ISO ( ISO/IEC 9995 -2), ANSI ( ANSI - INCITS 154-1988), and JIS ( JIS X 6002-1980), referring roughly to the organizations issuing the relevant worldwide, United States, and Japanese standards, respectively. (In fact,

6731-457: The Oriental, were adapted so the carriage moved from left to right, to accommodate Hebrew and Arabic languages. The company's European business declined with the onset of World War I, and production and sales were particularly hard hit when the United States joined the war in 1917. As part of the war effort Blickensderfer converted much of his factory to produce munitions for the war, including

6858-581: The QWERTY layout needed to be replaced, as QWERTY had not been laid out with the pure intention of ease and speed. Dvorak was joined by his brother-in-law William Dealey, a professor of education at the then North Texas State Teacher's College in Denton, Texas . Dvorak and Dealey's objective was to scientifically design a keyboard to decrease typing errors, speed up typing, and lessen typist fatigue. They engaged in extensive research while designing their keyboard layout. In 1914 and 1915, Dealey attended seminars on

6985-682: The Workbench disk or installing the system to a hard drive, Dvorak was usable for Workbench application programs. Versions of Microsoft Windows including Windows 95 , Windows NT 3.51 and later have shipped with U.S. Dvorak layout capability. Free updates to use the layout on earlier Windows versions are available for download from Microsoft. Earlier versions, such as DOS 6.2 / Windows 3.1 , included four keyboard layouts: QWERTY, two-handed Dvorak, right-hand Dvorak, and left-hand Dvorak. In May 2004, Microsoft published an improved version of its Keyboard Layout Creator (MSKLC version 1.3 – current version

7112-572: The above discrepancies between functional and visual layouts. A keyboard overlay is a plastic or paper masks that can be placed over the empty space between the keys, providing the user with the functional use of various keys. Alternatively, a user applies keyboard stickers with an extra imprinted language alphabet and adds another keyboard layout via language support options in the operating system. The visual layout of any keyboard can also be changed by simply replacing its keys or attaching labels to them, such as to change an English-language keyboard from

7239-417: The advent of the printing telegraph , a keyboard was needed to select characters. Some of the earliest printing telegraph machines either used a piano keyboard outright or a layout similar to a piano keyboard. The Hughes-Phelps printing telegraph piano keyboard laid keys A-N in left-to-right order on the black piano keys, and keys O-Z in right-to-left order on the white piano keys below. In countries using

7366-399: The application. Occasionally, stickers were provided to place over the keys for these layouts. However, IBM-compatible PCs used an active, "smart" keyboard. Striking a key generated a key "code", which was sent to the computer. Thus, changing to an alternative keyboard layout was accomplished most easily by simply buying a keyboard with the new layout. Because the key codes were generated by

7493-508: The bankrupt L.R. Roberts Company in 1926. Remington attempted to introduce a modified Blickensderfer 5 called the Rem-Blick to the market, but by the end of 1928 the model was discontinued. The Blickensderfer typewriter dramatically reduced the complexity of the typewriter design. A typical Blickensderfer contained only 250 parts, compared to the 2,500 parts of a standard typewriter. It was much smaller, lighter and cheaper than others. Some of

7620-583: The brackets, as their shifts. This innovation predated the IBM Personal Computer by several years. IBM adopted the 101/102 key layout on the PS/2 in 1987 (after previously using an 84-key keyboard that did not have a separate cursor and numeric keypads). Most modern keyboards basically conform to the layout specifications contained in parts 1, 2, and 5 of the international standard series ISO/IEC 9995 . These specifications were first defined by

7747-524: The character keys, a keyboard incorporates special keys that do nothing by themselves but modify the functions of other keys. For example, the ⇧ Shift key can be used to alter the output of character keys, whereas the Ctrl ( control ), Alt ( alternate ) and AltGr ( alternative graphic ) keys trigger special operations when used in concert with other keys. (Apple keyboards have differently labelled but equivalent keys, see below). Typically,

SECTION 60

#1732798486883

7874-456: The character keys. The core section of a keyboard consists of character keys, which can be used to type letters and other characters. Typically, there are three rows of keys for typing letters and punctuation , an upper row for typing digits and special symbols, and the Space bar on the bottom row. The positioning of the character keys is similar to the keyboard of a typewriter . Besides

8001-501: The classic Dvorak layout then the result is the ANSI Dvorak layout. Dvorak is included with all major operating systems (such as Windows , macOS , Linux and BSD ). Although some word processors could simulate alternative keyboard layouts by software, this was application specific; if more than one program was commonly used (e.g., a word processor and a spreadsheet ), the user could be forced to switch layouts depending on

8128-409: The common QWERTY to the Dvorak layout, although for touch typists, the placement of the tactile bumps on the home keys is of more practical importance than that of the visual markings. Blickensderfer typewriter The Blickensderfer typewriter was invented by George Canfield Blickensderfer (1850–1917) and patented on April 12, 1892. Blickensderfer was a nephew of John Celivergos Zachos ,

8255-860: The compact models have 79, 78, and 80. The visual layout includes the symbols printed on the physical keycaps. Visual layouts vary by language, country, and user preference, and any one physical and functional layout can be employed with a number of different visual layouts. For example, the "ISO" keyboard layout is used throughout Europe, but typical French, German, and UK variants of physically identical keyboards appear different because they bear different legends on their keys. Even blank keyboards—with no legends—are sometimes used to learn typing skills or by user preference. Some users choose to attach custom labels on top of their keycaps. This can be, e.g., for masking foreign layouts, adding additional information such as shortcuts , learning aids, gaming controls, or solely for decorational purposes. The functional layout of

8382-425: The company's early (pre- IPO ) days. Several engineers devised hardware and software to remap the keyboard, which were used inside the company and even sold commercially. The Apple IIe had a keyboard ROM that translated keystrokes into characters. The ROM contained both QWERTY and Dvorak layouts, but the QWERTY layout was enabled by default. A modification could be made and was reversible and did no damage. By flipping

8509-513: The cursor in the icon is not present, showing the menu only. This key was created at the same time as the Windows key. This key is normally used when the right mouse button is not present on the mouse. Some Windows public terminals do not have a Menu key on their keyboard to prevent users from right-clicking (however, in many Windows applications, a similar functionality can be invoked with the Shift+F10 keyboard shortcut ). The Windows key opens

8636-462: The desired symbol key). The Menu key or Application key is a key found on Windows-oriented computer keyboards: on Apple keyboard the same function is provided by the Command key (labelled ⌘). It is used to launch a context menu with the keyboard rather than with the usual right mouse button. The key's symbol is usually a small icon depicting a cursor hovering above a menu. On some Samsung keyboards

8763-412: The easiest row to type because the fingers rest there. Additionally, the Dvorak layout requires the fewest strokes on the bottom row (the most difficult row to type). By contrast, QWERTY requires typists to move their fingers to the top row for a majority of strokes and has only 32% of the strokes done in the home row. Because the Dvorak layout concentrates the vast majority of key strokes to the home row,

8890-542: The end of the company's existence, most machines were sold with the universal keyboard. There were modifications to the layout made for Spanish , French , German , and Polish . By way of comparison, the later Dvorak keyboard layout has the consonants on its home row in DHIATENSOR order: D   H   T   N   S . The Dvorak R is in the neighboring far row, between T and N . The same vowels, plus U , are present on

9017-483: The first aluminium typewriters, marketed as the Blickensderfer 6 and the Blickensderfer Featherweight, were made by Blickensderfer, as was the world's first fully electric typewriter , the Blickensderfer Electric. Instead of the common mechanism with letters on the end of individual type bars connected to the keys, the first Blickensderfer prototype used a cylindrical typewheel with four rows of characters; lower case, upper case, italics and short words embossed on it. It

9144-527: The functions of other keys, navigation keys for moving the text cursor on the screen, function keys and system command keys —such as Esc and Break —for special actions, and often a numeric keypad to facilitate calculations. There is some variation between different keyboard models in the physical layout—i.e., how many keys there are and how they are positioned on the keyboard. However, differences between national layouts are mostly due to different selections and placements of symbols on

9271-492: The ink roller to strike the paper. Holding the Cap or Fig keys shifted the typewheel along its axis to use either the middle row, for capital letters, or the lower row, for special characters and numbers. Industrial production in the 1890s was not highly automated and assembly was done completely by hand. This allowed for easy design changes and improvements to the production process. Blickensderfer continued to improve his machines and

9398-412: The introduction of iOS 8 in 2014, Apple iPhone and iPad users have been able to install third party keyboards on their touchscreen devices which allow for alternative keyboard layouts such as Dvorak on a system wide basis. Starting with iOS 16, the Dvorak keyboard became available as an included system wide keyboard. Apple iOS 4.0 and later supported external Dvorak keyboards. iOS 8.0 and later had

9525-465: The inventor of the stenotype . Two models, Model 1 and Model 5, were unveiled to the public at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The Model 5 was a stripped-down version of the bigger, more complex Model 1. These machines were intended to compete with larger Remington , Hammond and Yost typewriters , and were the first truly portable, full-keyboard typewriters. The design also enabled

9652-497: The key appears dead, but in some text-entry systems the diacritical mark is displayed along with an indication that the system is waiting for another keystroke: either the base character to be marked, an additional diacritical mark, or Space bar to produce the diacritical mark in isolation. Compared with the secondary-shift modifier key, the dead-key approach may be a little more complicated, but it allows more additional letters. Using AltGr, only one or (if used simultaneously with

9779-408: The keyboard itself, all software would respond accordingly. In the mid to late 1980s, a small industry for replacement PC keyboards developed; although most of these were concerned with keyboard "feel" and/or programmable macros , there were several with alternative layouts, such as Dvorak. Amiga operating systems from the 1986 version 1.2 onward allow the user to modify the keyboard layout by using

9906-465: The keyboard layouts. On QWERTY keyboards, 56% of the typing strokes are done by the left hand. As the right hand is dominant for the majority of people, the Dvorak keyboard puts the more often used keys on the right hand side, thereby having 56% of the typing strokes done by the right hand. Awkward strokes are undesirable because they slow down typing, increase typing errors, and increase finger strain. The term hurdling refers to an awkward stroke requiring

10033-449: The keyboard refers to the mapping between a physical key (such as the A key) and a consequent software event (such as the letter "A" appearing on the screen). Usually the functional layout is set (in the system configuration ) to match the visual layout of the keyboard being used, so that pressing a key will produce the expected result, corresponding to the legends on the keyboard. However, most operating systems have software (such as

10160-456: The keyboard temporarily becomes QWERTY when the Command (⌘/Apple) key is held down. By keeping familiar keyboard shortcuts like "close" or "copy" on the same keys as ordinary QWERTY, this lets some people use their well-practiced muscle memory and may make the transition easier. Mac OS and subsequently Mac OS X allow additional "on-the-fly" switching between layouts: a menu-bar icon (by default,

10287-417: The keyboard when typing. Functional layouts can be redefined or customized within the operating system, by reconfiguring the operating system keyboard driver, or with the use of a separate software application, or by transliteration (where letters in another language get mapped to visible Latin letters on the keyboard by the way they sound). Mixed hardware-to-software keyboard extensions exist to overcome

10414-427: The keys striking each other and jamming was more limited with this configuration. Because the Blickensderfer used the typewheel, the "scientific" keyboard layout could be used for maximum typing efficiency. The first widely successful production model was the Blickensderfer 5, introduced at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Production of the model 5 did not seriously get underway until 1895-1896. The 5

10541-402: The keys to be on three-quarter [ 3 ⁄ 4 , or 0.75] inch centers (about 19 mm, versus musical piano keys which are 23.5 mm or about 0.93 inches wide). 0.75 inches has turned out to be optimum for fast key entry by the average-size hand, and keyboards with this key size are called "full-sized keyboards". On a manual typewriter, the operator could press the key down with

10668-713: The latter requiring the simultaneous holding of the ⇧ Shift key. The ⇧ Shift key is also used to type the upper of two symbols engraved on a given key, the lower being typed without using the modifier key. The Latin alphabet keyboard has a dedicated key for each of the letters A–Z, keys for punctuation and other symbols, usually a row of function keys , often a numeric keypad and some system control keys. In most languages except English, additional letters (some with diacritics ) are required and some are present as standard on each national keyboard, as appropriate for its national language. These keyboards have another modified key, labelled AltGr (alternative graphic), to

10795-409: The left pointer finger; it corresponds to ";rgvt" on QWERTY). Keyboard layout Physical layout is the actual positioning of keys on a keyboard. Visual layout is the arrangement of the legends (labels, markings, engravings) that appear on those keys. Functional layout is the arrangement of the key-meaning association or keyboard mapping , determined in software, of all the keys of

10922-537: The letters DHIATENSOR for the home row. Blickensderfer had determined that 85% of English words contained these letters. The Dvorak keyboard uses the same letters in its home row, apart from replacing R with U , and even keeps the consonants in the same order, but moves the vowels to the left: AOEUIDHTNS . In 1933, Dvorak started entering typists trained on his keyboard into the International Commercial Schools Contest, which

11049-502: The machine before and after allowing other people to type, asked him about the modification. He spent as much time explaining the Dvorak keyboard as explaining Logo. Apple brought new interest to the Dvorak layout with the Apple IIc , which had a mechanical switch above the keyboard whereby the user could switch back and forth between the QWERTY and Dvorak. The IIc Dvorak layout was even mentioned by 1984 advertisements, which stated that

11176-420: The machine, making it easy to operate. Production peaked in 1910 and declined until production ended in 1917. About 20,000 Blickensderfer 8's were produced, accounting for about 10% of all Blickensderfer models sold. The Model 9, believed to be introduced in mid-1910, was similar in appearance to the Model 8, but lacked the nickel plated tabulator keys and also featured a folding ink roller arm support similar to

11303-409: The modern QWERTY layout. Sholes' chief improvement was thus to lay out the keys in rows offset horizontally from each other by three-eighths, three-sixteenths, and three-eighths inches to provide room for the levers and to reduce hand-movement distance. Although it has been demonstrated that the QWERTY layout is not the most efficient layout for typing, it remains the standard. Sholes chose the size of

11430-545: The normal shift key) two additional letters with each key, whereas using a dead key, a specific diacritic can be attached to a range of different base letters. A Compose key can be characterized as a generic dead key that may in some systems be available instead of or in addition to the more specific dead keys. It allows access to a wide range of predefined extra characters by interpreting a whole sequence of keystrokes following it. For example, striking Compose followed by ' ( apostrophe ) and then A results in á (

11557-429: The one most common on manual typewriters. Single-quote and double-quote, instead of being above the keys for the digits 2 and 8 respectively, were placed together on a key of their own. The underscore, another light character, replaced the asterisk above the hyphen. The ASCII communications code was designed so that characters on a mechanical teletypewriter keyboard could be laid out in a manner somewhat resembling that of

11684-556: The option to install onscreen keyboards from the App Store, which includes several free and paid Dvorak layouts. Apple added native support for the Dvorak keyboard with the release of iOS 16 in September 2022. Google's Android OS touchscreen keyboard can use Dvorak and other nonstandard layouts natively as of version 4.1. The traditional method for touch typing requires typists to rest their fingers in home position (on QWERTY,

11811-578: The otherwise redundant right-hand ⊞ Win key may, when available, be used for this purpose. This can be emulated in Windows with third party programs, for example WinCompose. Depending on the application, some keyboard keys are not used to enter a printable character but instead are interpreted by the system as a formatting, mode shift, or special commands to the system. The following examples are found on personal computer keyboards. The system request ( SysRq ) and print screen ( PrtSc or on some keyboards e.g. PrtScn ) commands often share

11938-405: The palten, added adjustable margin stops and a bell mechanism designed to be struck by a clapper attached to the inker arm indicating when the carriage was approaching the end of the typed line. The Blickensderfer 7 was also mounted on an oak base fitted with an attractive bentwood laminated oak case. About 63,000 Blickensderfer No. 7's were produced from 1897 until 1916. The Blickensderfer Electric

12065-535: The physical layouts referred such as "ISO" and "ANSI" comply with the primary recommendations in the named standards, while each of these standards in fact also allows the other.) Keyboard layout in this sense may refer either to this broad categorization or to finer distinctions within these categories. For example, as of May 2008 , Apple Inc . produces ISO, ANSI, and JIS desktop keyboards, each in both extended and compact forms. The extended keyboards have 110, 109, and 112 keys (ISO, ANSI, and JIS, respectively), and

12192-642: The previous apparent benefits of Dvorak to improper experimental design and outright bias on the part of Dvorak, who had designed and directed the previous studies. However, Strong had a personal grudge against Dvorak and had made public statements before his study opposing new keyboard designs. After this study, interest in the Dvorak keyboard waned. Later experiments have shown that many keyboard designs, including some alphabetical ones, allow very similar typing speeds to QWERTY and Dvorak when typists have been trained for them, suggesting that Dvorak's careful design principles may have had little effect because keyboard layout

12319-446: The primary keyboards used by most countries are based on the QWERTY design. The layout was completed in 1932 and granted U.S. patent 2,040,248 in 1936. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) designated the Dvorak keyboard as an alternative standard keyboard layout in 1982 (INCITS 207-1991 R2007; previously X4.22-1983, X3.207:1991), "Alternate Keyboard Arrangement for Alphanumeric Machines". The original ANSI Dvorak layout

12446-506: The right of the space bar. (US keyboards just have a second Alt key in this position). It can be used to type an extra symbol in addition to the two otherwise available with an alphanumeric key, and using it simultaneously with the ⇧ Shift key usually gives access to a fourth symbol. These third-level and fourth-level symbols may be engraved on the right half of the key top, or they may be unmarked. Cyrillic alphabet and Greek alphabet keyboards have similar arrangements. Instead of

12573-691: The same Mac computer, they can be configured to different layouts and use simultaneously. However should the computer shut down (lack of battery, etc.) the computer will revert to QWERTY for reboot, regardless of what layout the Admin was using. Most mobile phones have software implementations of keyboards on a touch screen. Sometimes the keyboard layout can be changed by means of a freeware third-party utility, such as Hacker's Keyboard for Android , AE Keyboard Mapper for Windows Mobile , or KeybLayout for Symbian OS . The RIM BlackBerry lines offer only QWERTY and its localized variants AZERTY and QWERTZ . Since

12700-409: The same as Ctrl+C. On modern keyboards, the break key is usually labeled Pause/Break. In most Microsoft Windows environments, the key combination Windows Pause brings up the system properties. The escape key (often abbreviated Esc) "nearly all of the time" signals Stop , QUIT , or let me "get out of a dialog" (or pop-up window). Another common application today of the Esc key

12827-520: The same key. SysRq was used in earlier computers as a "panic" button to recover from crashes (and it is still used in this sense to some extent by the Linux kernel ; see Magic SysRq key ). The print screen command is used to capture the entire screen and send it to the printer, but in the present, it usually puts a screenshot in the clipboard . The Break key /Pause key no longer has a well-defined purpose. Its origins go back to teleprinter users, who wanted

12954-494: The scan code, and these numbers are what is sent to the computer when a key is pressed or released.) The keyboard and the computer each have no information about what is marked on that key, and it could equally well be the letter A or the digit 9 . Historically, the user of the computer was requested to identify the functional layout of the keyboard when installing or customizing the operating system . Modern USB keyboards are plug-and-play ; they communicate their visual layout to

13081-565: The science of motion and later reviewed slow-motion films of typists with Dvorak. Dvorak and Dealey meticulously studied the English language, researching the most used letters and letter combinations. They also studied the physiology of the hand. The result in 1932 was the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard. In 1893, George Blickensderfer had developed a keyboard layout for the Blickensderfer typewriter model 5 that used

13208-408: The setmap command line utility with "usa2" as an argument, or later in 3.x systems by opening the keyboard input preference widget and selecting "Dvorak". Amiga systems versions 1.2 and 1.3 came with the Dvorak keymap on the Workbench disk. Versions 2.x came with the keymaps available on the "Extras" disk. In 3.0 and 3.1 systems, the keymaps were on the "Storage" disk. By copying the respective keymap to

13335-481: The shift key. Another use is to type more symbols than appear to be available, for instance the semi-colon key is accompanied with a colon symbol on the top. To type a semi-colon, the key is pressed without pressing any other key. To type a colon, both this key and the Shift key are pressed concurrently. (Some systems make provision for users with mobility impairment by allowing the Shift key to be pressed first and then

13462-406: The symbol shown on the physical key-top need not be the same as appears on the screen or goes into a document being typed. Modern USB keyboards are plug-and-play ; they communicate their (default) visual layout to the OS when connected (though the user is still able to reset this at will). A computer keyboard consists of alphanumeric or character keys for typing, modifier keys for altering

13589-447: The time and the top row about 6%. Blickensderfer offered the scientific keyboard in the hopes that his more efficient system would replace the clumsy but widely used QWERTY or universal keyboard developed by Sholes and Glidden in 1874. Unfortunately for Blickensderfer, no other typewriter manufacturer adopted the scientific keyboard and Blickensderfer had no choice but to offer the universal keyboard on all his machines as an option. Toward

13716-474: The time it took to learn QWERTY. When a new school board was elected, however, it chose to terminate the Dvorak classes. During World War II, while in the Navy, Dvorak conducted experiments which he claimed showed that typists could be retrained to Dvorak in a mere 10 days, though he discarded at least two previous studies which were conducted and whose results are unknown. With such great apparent gains, interest in

13843-514: The time many homes and businesses were not wired for electricity. Electricity was primarily used for lighting and therefore not widely available during the daytime. The Blickensderfer Electrics were advertised and marketed in both France and Britain, although it is not known how many machines were ultimately sold. Very few machines are known to exist today, and they are found with both straight fronts and QWERTY keyboards or curved fronts and DHIATENSOR keyboards. The Blickensderfer 8 introduced in 1908

13970-459: The typist to see the typed work, at a time when most typewriters were understrike machines that concealed the writing. When Blickensderfer unveiled his small Model 5, its compactness and novel features attracted huge crowds and many orders. The Blickensderfer typewriters were initially manufactured in a rented factory on Garden Street in Stamford, Connecticut. By 1896, due to strong foreign demand in particular for his machines, Blickensderfer opened

14097-528: The ubiquity of the QWERTY layout is a case study in switching costs. Nevertheless, significant market forces can result in changes (as in Turkish adoption of QWERTY), and non-core keys are more prone to change, as they are less frequently used and less subject to the lock-in of touch-typing. The main, alphanumeric portion is typically stable, while symbol keys and shifted key values change somewhat, modifier keys more so, and function keys most of all: QWERTY dates to

14224-728: The user group at AFNOR in 1984 working under the direction of Alain Souloumiac. Based on this work, a well-known ergonomic expert wrote a report which was adopted at the ISO Berlin meeting in 1985 and became the reference for keyboard layouts. The 104/105-key PC keyboard was born when two ⊞ Win keys and a ≣ Menu key were added on the bottom row (originally for the Microsoft Windows operating system). Newer keyboards may incorporate even further additions, such as Internet access (World Wide Web navigation) keys and multimedia (access to media players) buttons. As noted before,

14351-445: The user to type over 8000 possible characters by playing suitable "chords" with many modifier keys pressed simultaneously. A dead key is a special kind of a modifier key that, instead of being held while another key is struck, is pressed and released before the other key. The dead key does not generate a character by itself, but it modifies the character generated by the key struck immediately after, typically making it possible to type

14478-454: The volume, or handling Mission Control . Fn key can be also found on smaller Windows and Linux laptops and tablets, where it serves a similar purpose. Many Unix workstations (and also home computers like the Amiga ) keyboards placed the Ctrl key to the left of the letter A , and the ⇪ Caps Lock key in the bottom left. This position of the Ctrl key is also used on

14605-493: The world's fastest typist, Barbara Blackburn , had set a record on an Apple IIc with the Dvorak layout. Dvorak was also selectable using the built-in control panel applet on the Apple II GS . The Apple III used a keyboard-layout file loaded from a floppy disk: the standard system-software package included QWERTY and Dvorak layout files. Changing layouts required restarting the machine. The Apple Lisa did not offer

14732-634: Was a revolutionary machine and was far ahead of its time when it was first introduced at the Pan-American Exhibition in Buffalo in 1901 following its patent in August 1900 (patent no.656,085). It had all the familiar characteristics of the manual models, plus a QWERTY or a DHIATENSOR keyboard and all the advantages of later electric typewriters, including a light key touch, even typing, and automatic carriage return and line spacing. The machine

14859-567: Was a typing contest sponsored by typewriter manufacturers consisting of a series of professional and amateur contests. The professional contests had typists sponsored by typewriter companies to advertise their machines. In the 1930s, the Tacoma, Washington, school district ran an experimental program in typing designed by Dvorak to determine whether to hold Dvorak layout classes. The experiment put 2,700 high school students through Dvorak typing classes and found that students learned Dvorak in one-third

14986-407: Was advanced by two Japanese historians of technology showing that the key order on the earliest Sholes prototypes in fact followed the left-right and right-left arrangement of the contemporary Hughes-Phelps printing telegraph, described above. Later iterations diverged progressively for various technical reasons, and strong vestiges of the left-right A-N, right-left O-Z arrangement can still be seen in

15113-543: Was available as a factory-supplied option on the original IBM Selectric typewriter . August Dvorak was an educational psychologist and professor of education at the University of Washington in Seattle . Touch typing had come into wide use by that time and Dvorak became interested in the layout while serving as an advisor to Gertrude Ford, who was writing her master's thesis on typing errors. He quickly concluded that

15240-450: Was claimed in Dvorak's Navy test), Strong took a second group of QWERTY typists chosen for equal ability to the Dvorak group and retrained them in QWERTY in order to improve their speed at the same time the Dvorak typists were training. The carefully controlled study failed to show any benefit to the Dvorak keyboard layout in typing or training speed. Strong recommended speed training with QWERTY rather than switching keyboards, and attributed

15367-435: Was later modified to three rows of characters: lower case, upper case and a row of numbers and symbols. Depressing a key caused the typewheel to turn so the correct letter was positioned over the paper. As the wheel turned it moved downward, contacting an ink roller prior to striking the paper. This allowed for greater speed in typing as there were no keys to become jammed or stuck together. The interchangeable typewheel principle

15494-421: Was particularly good on pre-system 7 Macs" as freeware, and especially useful for Mac+ and Mac SE machines running MacOS 6 and 7. Another third-party developer offered a utility program called MacKeymeleon, which put a menu on the menu bar that allowed on-the-fly switching of keyboard layouts. Eventually, Apple Macintosh engineers built the functionality of this utility into the standard system software, along with

15621-416: Was powered by an Emerson electric motor mounted on the rear and switched on by turning a Yale key on the side. The motor ran on 104 Volt 60 Hz AC electric current, which was not yet widely standard at the time. (See War of the currents ) It is believed that the Blickensderfer Electric was produced from 1901 to 1919. Although a technological and engineering success, it was a commercial failure as at

15748-906: Was the No. 5, which sold for $ 35, compared to the benchmark machines of the day which cost $ 100 or more. Each new Model 5 came in a simple wooden carrying case with an extra typewheel, a dozen ink rolls and a tool kit. Blickensderfer typewriters were sold in France under the Dactyle name. The machines were sold in Canada by the Creelman Brothers Company of Georgetown, Ontario. They were also sold and marketed in Great Britain, Germany, New Zealand and Russia. The keyboards and type wheels were available for numerous languages, including French, Spanish, German and Polish. Some machines, called

15875-420: Was the central component of all the Blickensderfer machines. It could be easily removed, allowing users to select a large variety of fonts and typefaces. Later in the company’s production history, the basic machines' keyboards could easily be adapted to other languages at the Blickensderfer factory simply by changing the removable keytop covers and adding the corresponding language typewheel. One unique feature of

16002-409: Was the first Blickensderfer to boast a tabulator system (see Tab stop ), even though tabulators had been around for some time. This model was a considerable success and more were sold in 1908 than any other model. This machine was more massive and sturdier looking than the 7 with a two-piece typehead casting and a popular backspace mechanism. The tabulator used large nickel-plated levers placed on top of

16129-672: Was the first portable, full keyboard, typewriter and came with the DHIATENSOR keyboard as standard or with a QWERTY keyboard available on request. Some of the earliest Blickensderfer 5's were sold in France as the Dactyle . The Blickensderfer 5 was the simplest of all Blickensderfer models and more were produced than any other Blickensderfer machine. About 74,000 or 37% of the 200,000 Blickensderfer typewriters produced, were No. 5's and their production continued until 1913, when other models became more popular. In 1910 George Blickensderfer introduced

#882117