---

English version

Source

For those who love to work, write and/or search for content on the Internet, you know how important and exciting it is to have a tool like the computer keyboard. This device whose aspect may remind you of a chocolate bar (really, who doesn't love it?), adorned with letters and legible symbols on its surface, is an essential piece of technology for efficient typing. Today, its usefulness is so great that it has even been virtually adapted to smartphones with touch screen, so that you can write from there.

The keyboard, without a doubt, is an instrument with a lot of importance and use, therefore, it is logical that the need to learn how to use it arises. However, if there is one thing that is super common, it is that most people who have tried this for the first time, including myself, have experienced some confusion. To speak of a case, one of the things that they teach us at school is the alphabet, we would repeat the pronunciation over and over again, we would sing songs to remember the order of the signs, etc... And when we are going to use the computer and we see the keyboard what happens? there are jumbled letters everywhere! It is even possible that many, as it has happened to me, in their childhood have used an educational toy laptop that had the keys in alphabetical order. That was easy to use right? If the alphabet was our reference to know where the letters are, well, we will discover that the computer keyboard does not respond to that scheme "Where was this letter that I no longer remember?" More than once, we went back to look carefully until we found it.

Source

That order of letters that we saw on the keyboard did not seem to make sense, right? It is a detail that aroused confusion and curiosity at the time we were learning. In the end, one gets used to this distribution of keys very quickly, which often also forgets that "shock" that caused that order, which had nothing to do with the school alphabet.

But the keyboard has not only left us with that mystery, there is another one that is equally disturbing, why are the keys placed in a staggered manner? This pattern also has an effect on learning, because it turns out that when we want to type faster, we have to get used to moving our fingers safely between the keys. And yet, no matter how hard you try trying to get the keystrokes right, you end up accidentally pressing the wrong ones. There are many people who are affected by this so much that they find it too difficult to type on the keyboard (or at least to do it well).

Explanatory image using my Kensington Bluetooth keyboard.

So how many complications has it been so far? Is it our fault, or the keyboard? Who has not heard someone make a mistake and exclaim "This keyboard is annoying me! (or any similar phrase) even when they have been using the tool for years?

Source

If you have ever wondered if there is a formula to overcome these evils, well, I also had that concern in my mind, especially when I participated in a challenge that consisted of typing fast with the keyboard. I want to tell briefly, that for many years I was convinced that I had such ability, I was not wrong and that's why I entered the competition, however, I discovered that at a certain level I also had the problems that hindered writing, like the ones I described above. And another problem that also affected my speed in the challenge: looking down a lot, and having to repeat out loud everything I wanted to put on the screen.

I thought it was going to be difficult to find the solutions to all the problems, and it turns out that no, they were not far away, the answers were hidden in those mysteries that we ignore so much, and that have to do with something that was born much further back than the creation of computers.

Typing

Source

Typing is the technique used to enter text using the old typewriters . These tools with mechanical parts that operated with human strength, are the invention that revolutionized the way of writing on paper, created an efficient alternative to handwriting. And although today, these machines disappeared as a result of technological advances, computer keyboards are following the evolutionary line, in fact, they tried to maintain in a compact format, the fidelity of the design that the typewriter had (its staggered keys, the distribution or
keyboard layout , etc), so that typists, who were very skilled people to write fast, without errors, and without looking down, could easily adapt to this device. Here, a comparison of a computer keyboard and a typewriter, note the similarities.

My Apple A1048 keyboard and source of typewriter picture.

Returning to the subject of technique, precisely, now that we see this visual similarity in both devices, everything makes more sense. Possibly you had not noticed that "F" and "J" keys always have raised ridges. or a different surface that is possible to distinguish by touch, these marks are a guide to tell you where you should put your index fingers in the initial position according to the technique. In other words, this device is designed so that you can train typing, and why would that be important? Well, because with typing, typists developed the ability to type, and that was certainly important to be productive and efficient in the office.

However, there are some factors that have led to a loss of interest in typing. On the one hand, this technique was also thought to deal with some characteristics of the original typewriter, for example: The order of the letters was thought to distribute the force of the fingers in a balanced way and that these do not get tired with the mechanisms, because the keys were also somewhat hard. These are problems that disappear in a modern keyboard, so you could ask yourself "Why put your fingers in a specific position? And as a bonus, for many people mastering the technique can be difficult for them in a similar way as learning to play a musical instrument might be. Then, because of time issues they don't see the need to master it, and that has become so common, that already many people pick up a keyboard and don't even know that typing exists.

Now, as it happens in the world of music, we know that there are good musicians and others not so good, but if they can make music, they do it. The same happens with the art of typing on a keyboard! In my case, I learned to type by assuming that mentality of discipline and dedication, and not only did I successfully resolve mistakes, but I was also able to develop a speed I never thought I would achieve.

In summary, the computer keyboard is an electronic device that is based on the typewriter. These share observable characteristics in common, (the order of the letters, the staggered keys) that allow us to efficiently practice typing, which is the technique used to enter text by using the movements of our fingers on a system of clickable keys.

Still want to type much faster? Did you know that there are more keyboard layouts that better achieve that purpose? In the next post, I'll be talking about them Don't miss it!