# QWERTY alphabet **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 14, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qwerty-alphabet/539469 "2010-05-14T20:09:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qwerty-alphabet/539469/21 "2010-05-16T07:12:53Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Been debunked. **By Cecil.** > > [Was the QWERTY keyboard purposely designed to slow typists? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/221/was-the-qwerty-keyboard-purposely-designed-to-slow-typists) > " \*But by then, the story goes, people were used to the QWERTY keyboard and we’ve been stuck with it ever since, even in the face of allegedly superior alternatives such as the Dvorak keyboard. Advocates say research proves the Dvorak is easy to learn and makes typing faster and more accurate. But it’s never made much headway because of the crushing power of standards, even stupid ones. > > Baloney, say the authors of the article you enclose, S.J. Liebowitz and Stephen Margolis. They point out that (1) the research demonstrating the superiority of the Dvorak keyboard is sparse and methodologically suspect; (2) a sizable body of work suggests that in fact the Dvorak offers little practical advantage over the QWERTY; (3) at least one study indicates that placing commonly used keys far apart, as with the QWERTY, actually speeds typing, since you frequently alternate hands; and (4) the QWERTY keyboard did not become a standard overnight but beat out several competing keyboards over a period of years. Thus it may be fairly said to represent the considered choice of the marketplace. " > \* Dvorak does 3) by having all the vowels on one hand and most of the good consonants on the other hand. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qwerty-alphabet/539469/22 "2010-05-16T08:04:51Z")
Excuse me, but an alphabet is a one-dimensional construct, while a keyboard is two-dimensional, with each key located on both its X and Y axis. You can’t transfer between the two. What I mean is that a alphabet cannot be converted from a keyboard, because a keyboard doesn’t have a linear order, it has a map. The term “QWERTY” itself is a misnomer - there’s no reason to begin from the uppler right corner. If anything, I’d call it a “ZP” keyboard, after the letters closest and farthest from the hypothetical zero. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qwerty-alphabet/539469/23 "2010-05-16T16:51:29Z")
> [@carm](#): > > [Aha! Jokes \> English Jokes \> Europe English](http://www.ahajokes.com/eng011.html) I just wanted to point out that this is some jackass plagiarizing Dolton Edwards great 1946 short story [_Meihem In Ce Klasrum_](http://www.ecphorizer.com/EPS/site_page.php?issue=7&page=29). ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qwerty-alphabet/539469/24 "2010-05-16T21:23:11Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Better change the keyboard layout than the alphabet order. In any case keyboards will probably go extinct in a century or two. If I would live that long, I’d take that bet. Keyboards have been around for about 1 and a half century, and I don’t see them going away soon unless “telepathic” interfaces prove very successful. Certainly nothing on the market today comes close to the humble keyboard in speed, efficiency and even ergonomics. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qwerty-alphabet/539469.md?page=1)