1 - Booksniffer
- New Member
Offline 
- From: The Netherlands
- Registered: 22-12-2020
- Posts: 24
Switching between QUERTY / QWERTZ / AZERTY?
In my search for another typewriter, I've come across quite a few good looking, affordable ones, that have a QWERTZ or an AZERTY keyboard.
Does anyone have any experience in switching between different layouts?
Am I nuts for considering it?
I used to be a touch-typist of sorts (the sort that uses the backspace key more than any other one), but years of touchscreens and lack of practice have turned me back into a hunt & pecker.
Having the Z in a more comfortable place seems to make sense for Dutch....
I am mainly looking for a nice, sturdy machine that can handle the postcards and other odd things that I have been using a little better - and on those I usually don't write long pages of text, instead I sort of craft the words around the things already on the page.
Needing to use the shift key in order to get a full stop on an Azerty keyboard does sound very inconvenient though!
- Booksniffer
- New Member
Offline
- From: The Netherlands
- Registered: 22-12-2020
- Posts: 24
Re: Switching between QUERTY / QWERTZ / AZERTY?
Oh dear, a typo in the thread title...
I guess I am used to a Q being followed by a U!
- •
Thread Starter- Uwe
- Moderator
Offline
- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
- Posts: 4,410
Re: Switching between QUERTY / QWERTZ / AZERTY?
The answer to the question really depends on whether or not a person is a touch typist. If you hunt and peck or single-finger dab, it won't matter as much where the keys are located, but for a touch typist it can be a nightmare to relocate a single letter.
I learned to touch type on a QWERTY, but I do own a lot of QWERTZ keyboards and find it only takes a couple of minutes to make the switch from QWERTY. I would never hesitate to buy a machine with either layout.
On the other hand, I only have a couple of AZERTY models, and for good reason because I really can't use them. I suppose that with enough time and practice I could adapt to those at well, but it's not worth the effort to me; I'd rather pass on the AZERTY model and wait for a more familiar keyboard to come along.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- Booksniffer
- New Member
Offline
- From: The Netherlands
- Registered: 22-12-2020
- Posts: 24
Re: Switching between QUERTY / QWERTZ / AZERTY?
Uwe wrote:
The answer to the question really depends on whether or not a person is a touch typist. If you hunt and peck or single-finger dab, it won't matter as much where the keys are located, but for a touch typist it can be a nightmare to relocate a single letter.
I learned to touch type on a QWERTY, but I do own a lot of QWERTZ keyboards and find it only takes a couple of minutes to make the switch from QWERTY. I would never hesitate to buy a machine with either layout.
On the other hand, I only have a couple of AZERTY models, and for good reason because I really can't use them. I suppose that with enough time and practice I could adapt to those at well, but it's not worth the effort to me; I'd rather pass on the AZERTY model and wait for a more familiar keyboard to come along.
Thank you!
Yes, I suspect Azerty would be a bit *too* different.
- •
Thread Starter- skywatcher
- Moderator
Offline
- From: The Prairies of Alberta
- Registered: 14-3-2013
- Posts: 735
Re: Switching between QUERTY / QWERTZ / AZERTY?
Hi Book Sniffer
Had to chuckle when I read your question about minor differences in keyboards. I used the Dvorak keymap on my computer for close to 10 years, it just made typing so much easier for me, sure got some funny looks from friends though. When I became interested in typewriters, I found that switching from the Dvorak keymap on my computer to the Sholes keymap on my typewriters was really getting me confused. I ended up switching my computer back to the Sholes keymap in about 2011. All the best,
Sky
We humans go through many computers in our lives, but in their lives, typewriters go through many of us.
In that way, they’re like violins, like ancestral swords. So I use mine with honor and treat them with respect.
I try to leave them in better condition than I met them. I am not their first user, nor will I be their last.
Frederic S. Durbin. (Typewriter mania and the modern writer)
- Laurenz van Gaalen
- Speed Champion
Offline
- From: The Netherlands
- Registered: 20-7-2019
- Posts: 407
Re: Switching between QUERTY / QWERTZ / AZERTY?
How about a pre-war Belgium keyboard?
- Booksniffer
- New Member
Offline
- From: The Netherlands
- Registered: 22-12-2020
- Posts: 24
Re: Switching between QUERTY / QWERTZ / AZERTY?
Haha, oh dear!
- •
Thread Starter- Uwe
- Moderator
Offline
- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
- Posts: 4,410
Re: Switching between QUERTY / QWERTZ / AZERTY?
How about a pre-war Belgium keyboard?
Oh, wow! I've seen some crazy specialty keyboard layouts, and have to wonder if this one was created for some specific need. What is the source of the layout image?
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- Laurenz van Gaalen
- Speed Champion
Offline
- From: The Netherlands
- Registered: 20-7-2019
- Posts: 407
Re: Switching between QUERTY / QWERTZ / AZERTY?
Hi Uwe,
The source is a booklet from Erika I found a on Georg Sommereggers typewriters.ch.
The booklet is titled "Erika Tastaturen".
Unfortunately the link is dead, but I had saved the images, below is the one with the Belgium keyboard.
Lau
- Uwe
- Moderator
Offline
- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
- Posts: 4,410
Re: Switching between QUERTY / QWERTZ / AZERTY?
I have to wonder how many machines were actually sold with this particular layout. I can't recall having seen one, and I would think it would make a splash in our community should someone come across one today.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
