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https://www.theverge.com/23584421/shift-happens-marcin-wichary-typewriters-keyboards-qwerty-history>
"
Shift Happens is a book, launching on Kickstarter today, that attempts to
tell the winding story of keyboards: from the conception of the Qwerty layout a
century and a half ago, through early computers, to the mechanical keyboard
communities of today.
It’s the work of Marcin Wichary, a Polish designer based in Chicago who’s been
blogging about keyboards for years on Medium. Part coffee-table book, filled
with gloriously detailed photos of historical keyboards and typewriters, and
part deeply researched textbook,
Shift Happens is the work of a man that
cares deeply about the design and function of a tool that’s become an essential
yet oft-overlooked part of our professional and private lives.
Shift Happens delves into the Shift Wars, when competing typewriter companies
had very different ideas about how their machines should carry out the most
basic of tasks: creating upper and lowercase letters. It explores why Qwerty
succeeded when competing layouts like Dvorak failed to gain widespread
traction, and even takes the time to discuss some of the supposedly worst
keyboards ever made, like those that came with the ZX Spectrum or PCjr."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
