History of Keyboard The history of computer keyboards

History of Keyboard The history of computer keyboards begins indirectly with world’s first ever commercially successful typing machine, which was invented by a man called Christopher Latham Scholes during 1873. In this first design, the keys on the keyboard were arranged in alphabetical order. However, there was a fundamental problem that soon arose with this design. So successful was it that many people, who had become very adept at typing with great speed, came to find that the keys would often become jammed when they were typing too quickly, causing all sorts of problems.

Keyboard A keyboard is a device used to encode data by key depression, which enters information into a system. The keyboard converts alphabets and numbers, and other special symbols into electrical signals that processor can understand process. These signals are sent to the computer's CPU. There are three different layouts. The diagram above shows you a typical Windows QWERTY keyboard. So the majority of computers will have a keyboard having a similar style to the one above. To check whether your keyboard is a QWERTY keyboard, just take a look a the first six keys on the top left. If they spell QWERTY then your keyboard is the typical computer keyboard.

Computer Keyboard Diagram The following diagram is the same as the one slide, except that this one is labeled for your benefit. As you can see there a number of different sections of the keyboard. On the top there are the Function Keys, the Special Keys and the Lock Keys. On the right there is the Numeric Keypad and the Direction Keys. There is also the Normal Keys and the Numeric Keys.

Computer Keyboard Normal Key Layout So the typical keyboard layout, will look something similar to the one below. If you have an Apple computer then the keyboard will be similar, but won't include keys such as a Window key or Print Screen key. The keyboard was made for ease of use. The most used keys are generally easier to reach. That's why keys such as 'Q' and 'Z' are in the corners. The other keys such as Backspace, Spacebar and Enter are all pretty self-explanatory. However if you would like more information on the keys and keyboard shortcuts visit this article.