The History of How We Type

The Science of Keyboarding
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Typing seems like something so simple and common today that it is hard to imagine a world without it. Believe it or not, typing is actually one of the newer inventions in the history of mankind. To understand how we got where we are today, we need to look back and see why we started typing in the first place.

Back when everyone was writing things by hand, the typewriter came to revolutionize the world in the late 1800s. Unlike our modern keyboards, these typewriters we laid out with an alphabetical keyboard. This layout was actually too easy to type with, so engineers moved the keys around to prevent jamming with the layout we use today.

After typewriters came the first keyboards that were often very large and loud. This is where the first typing software came to be with floppy discs and VHS tapes teaching people how to type in the 80s and 90s.

After years of innovation and modern technology, we can now type on glass with phones and learn to type with ease all on the internet. Software like Typesy is paving the way for how we teach typing to students everywhere with ease of use and relevant lessons.

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Measuring a typist’s proficiency in words per minute (WPM) dates back just as long, too! While we have incredibly accurate reporting tools today, like the Typesy Mastery Metric, the idea to measure typing ability is as old as typing itself.

In times past, when typewriter typists were tested on their ability, their WPM score was reduced by 10 for every mistake made within a minute long test. So a speedy typist might clock in at 50 WPM but make 3 mistakes, dragging their overall score down to 20 WPM.

Luckily our reporting tools today are much more automated and sophisticated, but while we celebrate technology’s advancements, it’s interesting to consider just how little typing practices have changed, too!

Regards,
Alex (The Reimagined Classroom Teacher)