The keyboard is a fundamental part of the computer, but it is also international. As we speak different languages, the keyboard has different layouts. The most standard is the QWERTY English layout, but there are other English layouts and foreign layouts of different languages that are used in other countries around the world. Here’s our keyboard layout identification guide to help you better understand yours.
QWERTY keyboard layout
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The QWERTY keyboard layout is commonly found on computers in the United States. It was first created in the early 1870s by Christopher Latham Sholes, a newspaper editor and printer.
You know you have a QWERTY keyboard if you see the first letters in the row in the upper left corner arranged as Q, W, E, R, T, and Y. This type of layout is designed to speed up typing because it evens out the distance between your hands on the keyboard. The research also found that more typing is done with this layout and that typing is the most efficient compared to many other layouts.
Standard keyboard layout
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Now that you understand the basic keyboard layout, we need to get into the different keyboard standards and shapes for those layouts. The most common (and most standard keyboard layout and shape) is ANSI — short for American Standard. There are also ISO and JIS, which are European and Japanese standards and forms.
These two sides of the layout significantly change the look and feel of the keyboard. However, since we are an American English-speaking publication, we will focus on ANSI and ISO as they are located in the United States and Europe.
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There are two big differences to note about these layouts. On an ANSI keyboard, the enter key is more of a wide rectangle, but on an ISO keyboard, it’s an upside-down L-shape. Then, with the backslash key, ANSI keyboards have it above the enter key, but it’s to the left of the enter key on ISO keyboards.
Again, here in America we use an ANSI keyboard, so the chances of us seeing an ISO keyboard are very slim. But the layout isn’t all that different and you can still type as usual, although you might see the £ (pound) and € (euro) currency symbols on ISO keyboards.
American keyboard layout
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As we mentioned above, the US uses the QWERTY keyboard layout. There’s not much else to say about it other than what we’ve already added, but you’ll see this layout labeled “ENG US” on most operating systems like Windows or MacOS. Thanks to advances in technology, you can actually change the keyboard layout. In Windows, you can start in Language settingsthen select Language and region to add more languages and switch the on-screen keyboard layout to another language.
On MacOS you can go to Apple menu and choose System Settings > Keyboard > Input sources. Click on Plus button, then search for the language you want. You can switch between languages from Flag in Menu bar.
Just keep in mind that on Windows this change applies to the on-screen keyboard. If you need a foreign keyboard layout on your physical laptop or desktop computer, you may need to purchase one.
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Source: newstars.edu.vn