[from the keycaps at the upper left] Pertaining to a standard
English-language typewriter keyboard (sometimes called the Sholes
keyboard after its inventor), as opposed to Dvorak or non-US-ASCII
layouts or a {space-cadet keyboard} or APL keyboard.
Historical note: The QWERTY layout is a fine example of a {fossil}.
It is sometimes said that it was designed to slow down the typist,
but this is wrong; it was designed to allow faster typing -- under a
constraint now long obsolete. In early typewriters, fast typing using
nearby type-bars jammed the mechanism. So Sholes fiddled the layout
to separate the letters of many common digraphs (he did a far from
perfect job, though; `th', `tr', `ed', and `er', for example, each
use two nearby keys). Also, putting the letters of `typewriter' on
one line allowed it to be typed with particular speed and accuracy
for {demo}s. The jamming problem was essentially solved soon
afterward by a suitable use of springs, but the keyboard layout lives
on.
The QWERTY keyboard has also spawned some unhelpful economic myths
about how technical standards get and stay established; see
http://www.reasonmag.com/9606/Fe.QWERTY.html.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {tits on a keyboard}]