3 ms·

I thought part of it was so salesmen could quickly type the word: typewriter all characters of which were on the top row of keys.

• maleldil 2y ago
  That doesn't sound true. The quickest way would be for the keys to be in the home row.
  • m463 2y ago
    After it purchased the device, Remington made several adjustments—including switching the period and "R" keys, so that salesmen could impress customers by typing "TYPEWRITER" using the keys in the top row—which created a keyboard with what is essentially the modern QWERTY layout. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sholes_and_Glidden_typewriter#QWERTY_keyboard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sholes_and_Glidden_typewriter#...
    • ivanbakel 2y ago
      And on the full-fledged QWERTY layout article, this claim is called "not formally substantiated". The actual citation in your link is from a collection of essays on science, paleontology, and evolutionary theory - exactly the kind of place that such an apocryphal claim could have been repeated for the sake of a pithy anecdote, rather than a reliable source on the history of typewriter layouts. Wikipedia editors' tendency to duplicate information in sub-section summaries is a great pain, due largely to this problem - who keeps the editorial voice, references, etc. consistent across all these non-linked articles?