Editing QWERTY (section)

==Properties==
Alternating hands while typing is a desirable trait in a keyboard design. While one hand types a letter, the other hand can prepare to type the next letter, making the process faster and more efficient. In the QWERTY layout many more words can be spelled using only the left hand than the right hand. Thousands of English words can be spelled using only the left hand, while only a couple of hundred words can be typed using only the right hand<ref name=Diamond >{{Citation |last=Diamond |first=Jared |author-link=Jared Diamond |date=April 1997 |title=The Curse of QWERTY |journal=[[Discover (magazine)|Discover]] |url=http://discovermagazine.com/1997/apr/thecurseofqwerty1099/ |access-date=2009-04-29 |quote=More than 3,000 English words utilize QWERTY's left hand alone, and about 300 the right hand alone. |archive-date=20 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080920034117/http://discovermagazine.com/1997/apr/thecurseofqwerty1099 |url-status=live}}</ref> (the three most frequent letters in the English language, {{keypress|E}}{{keypress|T}}{{keypress|A}}, are all typed with the left hand). In addition, more typing strokes are done with the left hand in the QWERTY layout. This is helpful for left-[[handedness|handed]] people but disadvantageous for right-handed people.

Contrary to popular belief, the QWERTY layout was not designed to slow the typist down,<ref name="Yasuoka2011" />{{rp|162}} but rather to speed up typing. Indeed, there is evidence that, aside from the issue of jamming, placing often-used keys farther apart increases typing speed, because it encourages alternation between the hands.<ref name="sd">{{Cite web |last=Adams |first=Cecil |date=30 October 1981 |title=Was the QWERTY keyboard purposely designed to slow typists? |url=http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/221/was-the-qwerty-keyboard-purposely-designed-to-slow-typists |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803025408/http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/221/was-the-qwerty-keyboard-purposely-designed-to-slow-typists |archive-date=3 August 2017 |access-date=12 March 2013 |publisher=straightdope.com}}</ref> (On the other hand, in the German keyboard the {{keypress|Z}} has been moved between the {{keypress|T}} and the {{keypress|U}} to help type the frequent digraphs TZ and ZU in that language.) Almost every word in the English language contains at least one vowel letter, but on the QWERTY keyboard only the vowel letter {{keypress|A}} is on the home row, which requires the typist's fingers to leave the home row for most words.

A feature much less commented on than the order of the keys is that the keys do not form a rectangular grid, but rather each column slants diagonally. This is because of the mechanical linkages – each key is attached to a lever, and hence the offset prevents the levers from running into each other – and has been retained in most electronic keyboards. Some keyboards, such as the [[Kinesis (keyboard)|Kinesis]] or [[TypeMatrix]], retain the QWERTY layout but arrange the keys in vertical columns, to reduce unnecessary lateral finger motion.<ref>[http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/benefits.htm Kinesis – Ergonomic Benefits of the Contoured Keyboard] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100328105633/http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/benefits.htm |date=28 March 2010 }} – Vertical key layout</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://typematrix.com/2030/why.php|title=TypeMatrix - The Keyboard is the Key|author=TypeMatrix|website=typematrix.com|access-date=29 January 2013|archive-date=8 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208220252/http://typematrix.com/2030/why.php|url-status=live}}</ref>