3 ms·
Why do the special symbols go in different places on different language keyboards? Makes little sense to me. You'd think most of the keys on a keyboard would be
by lordnacho 6y ago
Why do the special symbols go in different places on different language keyboards? Makes little sense to me. You'd think most of the keys on a keyboard would be more or less the same place, with a few differences. Sticking to Latin based of course. But for instance the @ is in widely different places between languages. I mean I could understand if it was a language specific character like those Spanish upside down ones. But for the others, why aren't they more or less in the same place?
- Blikkentrekker 6y agoObviously historical reasons due to how typewriters in those countries were once organized. Keyboard layouts seldom seem to be particularly thought out, and the strange position of keys today is due to the historical reason of how the mechanical implementation of typewriters worked. The world is filled with rather unbecoming design choices, simply in service of inertia.
- lordnacho 6y agoThat just pushes back the question though. If you're importing the first typewriter from say Germany to the UK, wouldn't you make minimal changes?
- Blikkentrekker 6y agoHow it actually went historically is that different brands had completely different layouts until some sort of standardization emerged within particular locations. It is not as though one country had a standardized layout before other countries started manufacturing typewriters.