If you’ve done any traveling in different countries, you’ve probably had the experience of going to an internet cafe and trying to send an e-mail to your friends back home – and realizing that your e-mail is full of typos you didn’t even know you were making! That’s because the layout of computer keyboards from different regions of the world may vary. A United Kingdom keyboard is a good example. The main difference on a UK keyboard is that the symbols above the numbers are in a different order, and a few of the punctuation keys are in different locations. Another difference is that the Enter key on a UK layout takes up two rows rather than one. Spanish keyboards are set up to accommodate specific non-English letters and symbols, and if you’re a good touch typist and aren’t looking at the keyboard, you’ll probably end up pressing the wrong keys accidentally. Some computers and laptops allow you to change the virtual keyboard layout, however, so no matter what the letter or symbol on the key is, you’ll be able to type as you’re used to without making accidental errors. Note: Typesy will adapt to your keyboard as long as that type is supported.

In addition to regional variations in key layouts, some keyboards have entirely different shapes. One you may be familiar with is the split keyboard. Split keyboards look as if they have pie-shaped cracks running down the middle of the letter rows. The split was designed to conform to a more natural hand position, which is supposed to help reduce shoulder, wrist, and arm tension. Other split keyboard designs actually consist of two separate keyboard pieces with half of the letters appearing on the left-side piece and the other letters appearing on the right-side piece. This ergonomically designed keyboard makes it easier for different users to adjust the position of the two sides in whatever arrangement results in the most comfort.

Other keyboard designs are split and contoured, which supposedly improve comfort and typing speed. Some designs have repositioned the most commonly used keys for easier access. There’s also the Dvorak Simplified keyboard, which has undergone several design changes since its creation back in the 1930’s.
Although futuristic-looking and favored by some, the majority of updated and non-traditional computer keyboard designs have failed to gain widespread acceptance among computer users. It is for this reason that the makers of Typesy decided to base their touch typing lessons on the QWERTY keyboard. This decision was also based on the fact that the QWERTY keyboard is the number one recommended choice for touch typing. Nearly all modern computer keyboards have the QWERTY layout; the name comes from the order of letters on the top row, Q-W-E-R-T-Y from left to right. Because the QWERTY layout is so common, the touch typing lessons in Typesy are based on this layout.