Have you ever stopped to think about the slow keyboard? But when you think about it, it’s not such a humble item after all. Keyboards are a fixture in our daily lives – look around the house: keyboards are on phones, calculators, the security system, the garage door, computers, microwaves, washers, dryers, TV remotes, game consoles. games. The list goes on and on.
The first calculators started with fingers and toes for smaller numbers and evolved to the abacus for larger numbers (2700-2300 BC). The first mechanical calculator was invented in 1623. Fast forward to the 1850s when the first key-operated adding and calculating machine was invented. This could be the beginning of the first keys and the first keyboards. Once the pattern for the 10-key adding machine and calculator was set, it became the industry standard.
When the keyboard of telephone buttons appeared in the 1960s, the layout was the complete opposite of the calculator keyboard.
· Calculator keyboard = 3×3 in ascending numbers plus one.
Telephone keypad = 3×3 in decreasing numbers plus one.
There is a theory that the design of the telephone was chosen so that people with experience in adding machines could dial faster than the telephone network could respond. Regardless of keyboard layout, both configurations remain in the 21st century today.
Keyboards as we know them today are getting smaller but more sensitive to touch. Think about your cell phone and text messages. Have you noticed that rubberized keyboards are softer and more sensitive to the touch? It makes one wonder what the next generation of rubber keyboards will produce.