Keyboard Tester Pro

The QWERTY layout is the most common keyboard layout worldwide, named after the first six letters in the top-left row. Developed in the 1870s for typewriters, it was designed to reduce jamming by separating commonly used letter pairs. Despite not being optimized for typing speed, its familiarity and wide adoption have made it the default standard in most English-speaking countries and many others worldwide.

The AZERTY layout is a variation of QWERTY used primarily in French-speaking countries. It accommodates French language characters by swapping several keys from the standard QWERTY layout. The A and Q keys are swapped, as are the Z and W keys, and special characters like accented letters are more accessible. While designed for French typing efficiency, some critics argue it's not optimally designed for modern typing habits.

The QWERTZ layout is widely used in Central European countries, particularly in German-speaking regions. The main difference from QWERTY is that the Z and Y keys are swapped, reflecting the higher frequency of Z in German compared to English. The layout also includes keys for umlauted vowels (ä, ö, ü) and the eszett (ß), essential for German typography. Various countries have their own specific QWERTZ versions tailored to their language needs.

The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard was designed in the 1930s by Dr. August Dvorak with ergonomics and typing efficiency in mind. Unlike QWERTY, it places the most frequently used letters in English on the home row, allowing about 70% of typing to occur there (compared to 30% on QWERTY). This layout reduces finger movement, potentially increasing typing speed and reducing strain. Despite its ergonomic advantages, Dvorak has never achieved mainstream adoption due to QWERTY's entrenched status and the learning curve associated with switching layouts.

The Colemak layout was created in 2006 as a modern alternative to both QWERTY and Dvorak. It keeps many keys in the same position as QWERTY (including common shortcut keys like Z, X, C, V), making it easier to learn for QWERTY users. While moving frequently used letters to the home row for efficiency, it only changes 17 key positions from QWERTY. Colemak offers a balance between ergonomic improvement and learning curve, making it popular among typing enthusiasts and programmers seeking better ergonomics without a complete retraining.

The Workman layout, developed in 2010, focuses on minimizing lateral finger movements, which are considered more strenuous than vertical movements. It places the most common English letters in positions that favor the natural motion of the fingers. Unlike Dvorak and Colemak, Workman places less emphasis on the home row and more on optimizing finger travel distance and reducing the workload on the pinky fingers. This layout is gaining traction among ergonomic keyboard enthusiasts who find Dvorak too different from QWERTY and Colemak not ergonomic enough.

Japanese keyboards utilize a unique layout that accommodates both the Latin alphabet and Japanese characters. The standard Japanese keyboard uses a QWERTY layout for Latin characters but includes additional keys for inputting Japanese kana characters. Users can switch between input modes to type in either script. The complex nature of Japanese writing with thousands of kanji characters means that direct character input isn't feasible; instead, users type phonetically using kana or romaji (Latin letters), and conversion software suggests the appropriate kanji characters based on context.