The QWERTY keyboard layout has stood the test of time, from the early typewriters to the virtual keyboard on the screen of any smart-phone.
The QWERTY keyboard layout has stood the test of time, from the clattering of early typewriters to the virtual keyboard on the screen of any smart-phone. Myths abound as to why keys are laid out this way – and whether there are much better alternatives languishing in obscurity. Tim Harford explains how this is a debate about far more than touch-typing: whether the QWERTY keyboard prospers because it works, or as an immovable relic of a commercial scramble in the late 19th century, is a question that affects how we should deal with the huge digital companies that now dominate our online experiences.
Producer: Ben Crighton
Editor: Richard Vadon
(Image: qwerty keyboard, Credit: Getty Images)
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- Sat 20 Apr 2019 04:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except East and Southern Africa & South Asia
- Sat 20 Apr 2019 13:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service News Internet
- Sun 21 Apr 2019 14:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except Americas and the Caribbean, East Asia & South Asia
- Sun 21 Apr 2019 21:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Sun 21 Apr 2019 22:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Mon 22 Apr 2019 03:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service South Asia
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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy
The stories of inventions, ideas and innovations which helped create the economic world
