Let's Talk QWERTY Trivia Quiz

Answer: The first 6 letter keys on the top row spell QWERTY

Christopher Latham Sholes (1819-1890) is credited with the development of the first commercially successful typewriter which was sold to E. Remington and Sons in 1873. The QWERTY layout was first produced on a Remington No. 1 in 1873. The Remington No. 2 (1878) also used a QWERTY layout, but it had the ability to print both upper and lower case letters using a shift key.

There are many theories about how the layout came to be, but my favorite is that Remington wanted the top row to spell "type writer".

Answer: Dvorak

The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard is only one of the many different layouts that have been developed through the years. Dvorak's system was tested against the QWERTY layout, but even today folks don't agree on the results.

Many operating systems now provide the option of configuring your system to utilize the Dvorak layout. This is between you and your keyboard, try it out if you're interested.

Answer: Esc

Bob Bemer (1920-2004) is credited with the additon of the Esc (or ESCape) character/key in 1960. The key would allow programmers to switch between code types when working on multiple platforms.

As time passed, programmers began to integrate the key as a signal to "stop". Many operating systems respond to the key alone or in combination with other keys.

Answer: Press any key to continue...

Before graphical user interfaces, the text on the monitor would continue scrolling until the executing program paused. The DOS prompt "pause" displayed "Press any key to continue..." until the user pressed the appropriate key.

For some this was intuitive, but for others problematical. Firstly, all keys didn't resume operation (e.g., Shift, Lock, etc.). Secondly, some folks thought there should actually be a key labeled "any".

Answer: False

Well, they do both erase text, but each in its own way. The Backspace key moves the cursor back one position and deletes the character in that position. The Delete (or Del) key eliminates the character at the current position.

Answer: modifier keys

There are many options here depending on the type of system/keyboard that you've purchased, but the most common of the modifier keys are Shift, Ctrl, Alt. Some keyboards also have a MS Windows logo key, and an Apple Macintosh keyboard would have an Option key.

Answer: function keys

The function keys first appeared on calculators. Many of these calculators were early desktop computers perhaps with a BASIC compiler and CRT (cathode ray tube or monitor).

As function keys became more popular, there was no consistency on how they were implemented and every programmer of every application had their own ideas. In 1987 IBM published a Common User Access (CUA) for DOS applications. This strongly influenced the design of keyboard shortcuts and function key uses. For example, F1 is almost always the "help" key.

Answer: repetitive strain

Important Note: it's strongly recommended that a person not sit in the same position all day. It's important to get up and move around, and do some light exercise. If you're experiencing any strain, it might be a matter of ergonomics, or designing the people space for work with the computer, influenced by the height of the monitor, seat, keyboard table, etc.

Answer: Num Lock, Caps Lock, Scroll Lock

The light is an indication of whether the lock function is on (light on), or off for each of the functions.

While on, the Caps Lock key ENABLES TYPING IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. The Num Lock key enables the number pad keys to produce numbers when pressed rather than be used as directional arrows. The Scroll Lock should stop the scrolling of text or might halt a program's operation (I've only ever used this in MS Excel. When off, the use of the arrow keys causes the currently selected cell to change. When on, it causes the whole screen to move, but does not change the selected cell.)

Answer: True

QWERTY keyboards have many modifications implemented to aid local users, no matter where they are. Different alphabets, extra characters, accent marks, and additional functions have been added.