[caubeck]

Yes, commonly paired keys (such as the Q and U) were separated so the mechanical arms wouldn't jam when the typist worked too quickly. This encouraged trained typists to use both hands rather than press both keys in quick succession with the same fingers. Memory rather than sight and two wrist movements instead of one.

Practically every improvement on keyboard layout to make the job faster (now that we don't need to worry about the mechanism jamming) has been abandoned or ignored, but if a keyboard were ever designed especially for thumbs and mobile equipment the logical thing would be to remap the positions of the keys. The Q and U would be placed on a single button, perhaps with others made for common suffixes. The problem would be that not every language has the same spread of letter frequency and it would be a manufacturer's nightmare to provide each language with its own keyboard. Our current QWERTY design makes no sense to a Spanish user, for example, where the V and B (two of the most commonly confused letters) are found together in the bottom row. Of course, Spaniards learn to get over it when they train.

Anyway, QWERTY was invented for a reason that no longer exists and the same amount of thought should be given to positioning keys better for thumbs on a mobile unit, but making sure medical device is taken into account.

[caubeck]

Yes, commonly paired keys (such as the Q and U) were separated so the mechanical arms wouldn't jam when the typist worked too quickly. This encouraged trained typists to use both hands rather than press both keys in quick succession with the same fingers. Memory rather than sight and two wrist movements instead of one.

Practically every improvement on keyboard layout to make the job faster (now that we don't need to worry about the mechanism jamming) has been abandoned or ignored, but if a keyboard were ever designed especially for thumbs and mobile equipment the logical thing would be to remap the positions of the keys. The Q and U would be placed on a single button, perhaps with others made for common suffixes. The problem would be that not every language has the same spread of letter frequency and it would be a manufacturer's nightmare to provide each language with its own keyboard. Our current QWERTY design makes no sense to a Spanish user, for example, where the V and B (two of the most commonly confused letters) are found together in the bottom row. Of course, Spaniards learn to get over it when they train.

Anyway, QWERTY was invented for a reason that no longer exists and the same amount of thought should be given to positioning keys better for thumbs on a mobile unit, but making sure medical device is taken into account.