If you take the time to think about it, we have been using keyboards way before we even knew what computers were. Some people will use at least one type of keyboard throughout their day on a daily basis. However, we are here to tell you some interesting and fun facts about keyboarding.
Fun Keyboarding Facts
- On your keyboard, the longest word that you can type using only the top row is typewriter.
- Christopher Sholes had designed the QWERTY keyboard that we use today for his typewriter in 1872.
- The same keyboard design has been used for about 150 years!
- The layout of the QWERTY keyboard was designed to slow people down so that the hammers on the typewriter would not jam — many people would not believe this because this keyboard layout is the most commonly used, however, nothing can be more inefficient. When the keys were placed in alphabetical order, people would type to fast and jam the arms of the typewriter. This is why this layout was chosen, to slow people down.
- On a Japanese keyboard, you will find the shortest space bar — this is because the Japanese language has so many different letters that they take up most of the space on a keyboard. Plus, Japanese keyboards require them to switch between Roman and Latin letters as well as Japanese characters. For this switching to occur, there must be additional keys. This is why the keyboard has such a small space bar.
- Studies have shown that a keyboard will be dirtier than your average toilet. This is why you must know how to clean them properly — in this study, 33 keyboards were tested. They were tested for potential health hazards. It was found that keyboards had levels of germs five times higher than those found on a toilet seat. Some keyboards located in office settings had mice droppings in them.
- Almost all keyboards will have bumps on the F and J keys. This is to allow those who do touch-typing to locate the base where they need to start. This is the starting position in which your hands rest on the keys. Plus, it makes it easier to navigate under poor lighting conditions.
- There is a monument for the QWERTY keyboard. It is located in Russia.
- You will hit the spacebar at the same time as 600,000 other people in the world — the space bar isn’t only the longest and largest key on your keyboard, but it is also the most commonly used key. If you did not use the space key, reading would be a lot more difficult. 18 percent of all strokes on a keyboard is to the space key. Plus, when you type, you are not alone. Every 1/10th of a second, 600,000 people will hit the space bar.
- There are keys on the keyboard that are relatively useless today — the system request button dates back to 1980 when there were few operating systems being run. The print screen button was used to print the screen onto paper. However, today it is used to copy it to the clipboard.
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
