QWERTY Facts for Kids

A QWERTY keyboard

The QWERTY keyboard layout is very common for computers and typewriters. You can find it in many English-speaking countries. The name "QWERTY" comes from the first six letters on the top row of keys: Q, W, E, R, T, and Y. Christopher Sholes patented this design in 1874. He then sold it to a company called E. Remington and Sons that same year.

How the QWERTY Keyboard Started
Typing Special Characters and Accents
Different QWERTY Keyboards Around the World
Images for kids
See also

How the QWERTY Keyboard Started

A QWERTY keyboard often used in English-speaking countries.

Christopher Sholes invented the QWERTY layout. He also created the first modern typewriter. At first, typewriters had letters arranged in alphabetical order. But when people typed fast, the metal bars holding the letters would get stuck together. This meant the typist had to stop and pull them apart.

A friend of Sholes, James Densmore, suggested a new layout. He thought spreading out the keys would stop the bars from sticking. This would make typing faster and smoother. Some people think QWERTY was made to slow typing down. Others believe it worked by separating common English letter pairs.

Typing Special Characters and Accents

The QWERTY keyboard was designed for the English language. English words do not use accent marks. This caused problems for people in other countries. Languages like French use letters with accents, such as "é" or "ç".

You can often type accent marks using special key combinations. For example, you might hold down the Alt key and press certain numbers. Releasing the Alt key would then create the special character. Sometimes, you can use the Control or Alt key with a letter.

Many word processing programs, like Microsoft Word, have "Special Characters" menus. You can find and insert accent marks there. Windows computers also have a "Character Map" program. This tool lets you find and copy any character. You can then paste it into other programs.

This French Matra Alice computer uses the AZERTY keyboard layout.

Different QWERTY Keyboards Around the World

Keyboards can look different depending on where they are made. Even if they are based on QWERTY, they often have changes for local languages.

Belgian and French Keyboards

Keyboards in Belgium and France are called AZERTY keyboards. They swap the Q and W keys with the A and Z keys. The letter M is also moved to the right of the L key.

Czech Keyboards

Some Czech keyboards use a QWERTZ layout. They switch the Z and Y keys, just like German keyboards. They also add special Czech letters like "ů" and "ú" near the P and L keys. The top row, which usually has numbers, has accent marks instead. To type numbers, users must hold down the Shift key.

Scandinavian Keyboards

Keyboards in Denmark and Norway have the letters Æ, Ø, and Å. Swedish and Finnish keyboards use Ä and Ö instead. These letters are placed where other special characters might be on a standard QWERTY keyboard.

Faroese Keyboards

Faroese keyboards add the letters Æ and Ø next to the L key. They also add Å and Ð next to the P key.

German Keyboards

German keyboards are QWERTZ. They switch the Z and Y keys because Z is used more often than Y in German. They also add Ü to the right of P, and Ö and Ä to the right of L.

Hungarian Keyboards

Hungarian keyboards add É and Á after L. They place Ö above O, Ü above P, and Ő after P. Ú is found after Ő, Ó above Ú, and Í under A. Like German, they also switch Z and Y.

Icelandic Keyboards

Icelandic keyboards add Ð to the right of P. Æ is to the right of L. Ö is to the right of the 0 key on the top row. Þ is placed at the far right of the bottom row.

Italian Keyboards

Older Italian typewriters used a QZERTY layout. The Z was swapped with W, and M was to the right of L. Modern Italian computer keyboards are QWERTY. They add è to the right of P and ò to the right of L.

Lithuanian Keyboards

A Portuguese keyboard layout.

Lithuanian keyboards use an ĄŽERTY layout. Ą is where Q usually is, and Ž is where W usually is. The Q and W keys can still be found, often on the far right or by using the Alt Gr key. Sometimes, Lithuanian symbols replace the numbers on the top row.

Portuguese Keyboards

Portuguese keyboards keep the QWERTY layout. They add the Ç key after the L key. The Spanish version of this keyboard has the Ñ key.

Romanian Keyboards

Romanian keyboards have a QWERTZ layout, so Y and Z are swapped. They add ă and î to the right of P. Ş and ţ are added to the right of L. The â replaces the backslash character. Some symbols on the number keys are also moved around. For example, the hyphen (-) is swapped with the slash (/).