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Random Thoughts...or...What's on Your Mind?

Arguably headlong into a fourth decade of typewriters having become obsolete, I wonder if the computer keyboard configuration that mimics it is still valid enough to continue.

Do people doing vast amounts of typing still need things in that configuration for any real reason? Think about how big a space bar is. Is that size really necessary? I mean, bigger... sure, I guess, but that big & in that particular spot? Many people typing today never laid a finger on a typewriter. Would they really be put out if it was changed to something more currently user-friendly?
 
Arguably headlong into a fourth decade of typewriters having become obsolete, I wonder if the computer keyboard configuration that mimics it is still valid enough to continue.

Do people doing vast amounts of typing still need things in that configuration for any real reason? Think about how big a space bar is. Is that size really necessary? I mean, bigger... sure, I guess, but that big & in that particular spot? Many people typing today never laid a finger on a typewriter. Would they really be put out if it was changed to something more currently user-friendly?

Other keyboards exist.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_keyboard_layout

You can buy the above one.
 
Black muscle car was being really loud in the parking lot and repeatedly honking at the car in front of it. Either they knew each other or this was road rage at 10 MPH. Then when the muscle car got onto the main road a few minutes later, driver made sure to rev the engine really loud and then peel out.
 
Others existing wasn't really my interest. Some other one becoming dominant is what I'm ruminating about lol

And I was wondering if the typewriter configuration had legitimate purpose for being that way on a typewriter, & if it still somehow applies for computer keyboards

I thought the design was to keep keys from sticking together on a typewriter. It’s not optimal. But getting people to change is hard. And so many would have to learn all over again.
 
Arguably headlong into a fourth decade of typewriters having become obsolete, I wonder if the computer keyboard configuration that mimics it is still valid enough to continue.

Do people doing vast amounts of typing still need things in that configuration for any real reason? Think about how big a space bar is. Is that size really necessary? I mean, bigger... sure, I guess, but that big & in that particular spot? Many people typing today never laid a finger on a typewriter. Would they really be put out if it was changed to something more currently user-friendly?
I type a lot in my job and I think the QWERTY keyboard is stupid. :)
 
Do people doing vast amounts of typing still need things in that configuration for any real reason? Think about how big a space bar is. Is that size really necessary? I mean, bigger... sure, I guess, but that big & in that particular spot?
The spacebar has to present a wide target for the user's thumbs. Of course, I suppose a completely different layout could have a differently sized and located space key, but there are still plenty of old-timers (like myself) who learned to type on clunky manual typewriters back in the 1960s.
 
Yeah, I think at this point the keyboard layout has been this way for so long, that it would be really hard to change it.
 
I thought the design was to keep keys from sticking together on a typewriter.
Ah yes. That does seem correct to my recollection too. I'm just thinking I'm over 50 & even my generation was barely recognizing typewriter technique way back in the school days. I figure by the time I'm dead there really should be no reason why it's still valid
 
Ah yes. That does seem correct to my recollection too. I'm just thinking I'm over 50 & even my generation was barely recognizing typewriter technique way back in the school days. I figure by the time I'm dead there really should be no reason why it's still valid

There really isn’t.

If you don’t want to type, you can use voice dictation. This is becoming more the norm these days. But it does take some getting used to.
 
Yeah, I think at this point the keyboard layout has been this way for so long, that it would be really hard to change it.
There are alternate keyboard layouts besides the existing QWERTY. A popular one going back to 1936 is DVORAK. There's also Colemak and Workman. The nice thing about computers is that it is fairly easy to reconfigure the layout.
 
If you don’t want to type, you can use voice dictation. This is becoming more the norm these days. But it does take some getting used to.
I've never used speech-to-text software. I assume it can be tweaked to recognize the inflections and idiosyncracies of a particular person's voice. The automatically generated captions on YouTube and social media videos can be so inaccurate that they're hilarious.
 
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