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mwichary's profile
Marcin Wichary
Marcin Wichary
Marcin Wichary
@mwichary

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Marcin Wichary

@mwichary

Writing a book about the history of keyboards: http://aresluna.org/shift-happens  · Design manager @figmadesign · Typographer · Occasional speaker · He/him

San Francisco, Calif.
Joined October 2009

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    Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 1 Aug 2020
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    What’s wrong/unusual about this keyboard? There are a few more visible things, and one that surprised me when someone else pointed it out to me.pic.twitter.com/lXQMxkcXS0

    10:34 PM - 1 Aug 2020
    • 16 Retweets
    • 87 Likes
    • Chris quince Tyler Neylon Umut K Maria Åström Dan Rubin Cristiano M. Gaston Garth Gilmour とうふ
    33 replies 16 retweets 87 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 1 Aug 2020
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        This is a predecessor to the (in)famous space cadet keyboard, and it already carries some of the same characteristics: LISP symbols, Backspace next to A, more-than-usual number of modifier keys.pic.twitter.com/a7PHLY4bi4

        2 replies 2 retweets 16 likes
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      3. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 1 Aug 2020
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        The smaller space is weird, but quite a few keyboards have that (e.g. in Japan). The zero on the “wrong” side is somewhat interesting, too. (Arguably, the *other* zero keys are all on the wrong side!) But we’ve seen that on PLATO and in Hungary.pic.twitter.com/oGWlOUhy0F

        1 reply 1 retweet 14 likes
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      4. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 1 Aug 2020
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        The lack of arrow keys is not unusual for the time (late 1960s?). Neither are high-glare keys, or the monotone livery. The beautiful almost-symmetry is also somewhat okay for the time, although it hints at the true weird secret of this keyboard.

        1 reply 1 retweet 11 likes
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      5. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 1 Aug 2020
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        Hint: it’s something that you *might* see, but it’s something your *fingers* would definitely notice.

        7 replies 0 retweets 6 likes
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      6. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 1 Aug 2020
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        Marcin Wichary Retweeted Technology Connections

        Okay, @TechConnectify got this! This keyboard is staggered improperly. On every QWERTY keyboard, the keys are offset in a very distinctive half/quarter/half pattern. This one – for some reason – goes half/half/half.https://twitter.com/TechConnectify/status/1289805763666313220 …

        Marcin Wichary added,

        Technology Connections @TechConnectify
        Replying to @mwichary
        Ooh! The spacing! It's too normal and not nearly typewritery enough
        2 replies 1 retweet 20 likes
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      7. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 1 Aug 2020
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        That weird staggering pattern traveled to modern keyboards all the way from the first QWERTY keyboard ~150 years ago.pic.twitter.com/DYryPr6hve

        1 reply 2 retweets 15 likes
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      8. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 1 Aug 2020
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        It was a side-effect of how this typewriter was constructed – keys couldn’t overlap for the mechanical levers to have enough clearance – but contrary to popular opinion staggering wasn’t necessary to build typewriters in general!

        1 reply 0 retweets 11 likes
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      9. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 1 Aug 2020
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        Even in the 19th century, there were quite a few typewriters that today we’d call “ortholinear.”pic.twitter.com/pXdBmCqsSJ

        1 reply 3 retweets 18 likes
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      10. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 1 Aug 2020
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        The half/quarter/half staggering could’ve been undone a few years into QWERTY’s existence, but – just like QWERTY – it never was. People’s fingers got used to it, and nobody wanted to mess with the power of habit and motor memory.

        2 replies 1 retweet 8 likes
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      11. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 1 Aug 2020
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        And even if the space-cadet keyboard was celebrated as a side experiment in keyboard-land, you can see that even it already surrendered the wilder ideas of its teal predecessor: 0 moved to the right, space got wider, and staggering was reset to the more complex 1870s way.pic.twitter.com/gmPJOaxUdS

        1 reply 1 retweet 10 likes
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      12. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 1 Aug 2020
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        I named my book Shift Happens not just because it’s funny, but also to illustrate the haphazard nature of the design of keyboards.

        1 reply 4 retweets 21 likes
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      13. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 1 Aug 2020
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        The truth is that the most common and logical answer I can often find to “why is this key in this place?” is “because it was in this place before.” Whether this is something that’s worth celebrating or lamenting… you tell me.

        1 reply 4 retweets 21 likes
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      14. End of conversation

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