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Subject: Re: QWERTY was not designed to intentionally slow typists down (was: Unicode normalisation [was Re: [beginner] What's wrong?])
Date: Sat, 09 Apr 2016 11:44:48 -0400
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On Fri, Apr 8, 2016, at 23:28, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> And how did it enable fast typing? By *slowing down the typist*, and thus
> having fewer jams.

Er, no? The point is that type bars that are closer together collide
more easily *at the same actual typing speed* than ones that are further
apart - For Q to collide with P, they would have to both be nearly all
the way to the platen at the same time, whereas Q can collide with A
even a mere millimeter from the basket (or anywhere in between).

I don't understand where this idea that alternating hands makes you
slows you down came from in the first place... I suspect it's people who
haven't really thought for a minute about the physical process of typing
(to type "ec" you have to physically move your left hand, to type "en"
your right hand can already be moving into place while your left hand
presses the first key. The former is clearly slower than the latter.)
This goes double for hunt-and-peck typing, where you have to move your
whole hand to press _any_ two keys on the same hand.