In the 1800’s the QWERTY keyboard was developed to make mechanical typewriters more reliable. By moving letters that commonly followed each other further apart, there was less chance of the swing-arm typebars colliding and jamming. In effect it slowed down typists.
In 1936 August Dvorak patented the “Simplified Keyboard” which did away with historical clunky skeuomorphism. Rather than comfort, Dvorak was interested in productivity.
Despite QWERTY’s dominance today, people like W.P.M. Guinness record holder Barbara Blackburn see a dramatic improvement in speed and accuracy after switching to DVORAK.
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