THE QWERTY ROW

The third row of the keyboard is a celebrity in our midst. The Q-W-E-R-T-Y row.

The keys of early typewriters were, sensibly enough, laid out in alphabetical order. The impetus for change was not exactly the yearning for blistering speed that has brought us together here today, but rather necessity. Early typewriters were mechanical and prone to jamming. The QWERTY layout solved that problem by spreading the popular keys across the board, inadvertently creating an ideal layout for distributing the effort of typing to all ten fingers rather than the traditional hunt and peck method. Progress and fate hand in hand once more.

● The left index finger will control the R and T keys, the right index finger will control the Y and U keys.

● The left middle finger will control the E key, the right middle finger will control the I key.

● The left ring finger will control the W key, the right ring finger will control the O key.

● The left little finger will control the Q key, the right little finger will control the P key.

LF = Little Finger,  RF = Ring Finger,  MF = Middle Finger,  IF = Index Finger

In our last lesson we learnt the locations of the Home Row keys. enough in themselves to enable us to type some words without looking at the keyboard already.

The QWERTY row, as well as being the most celebrated on the keyboard is also the hardest working. Four of the five vowels, E-I-O-U are to be found in this row. After completing the second lesson you should discover that you are already well on the way to being a touch typist and your fingers are becoming ever more adept at finding the right key without your conscious thought.

CAPITAL LETTERS

To Capitalize a letter press the letter and at the same time with your other hand press the Shift key with your pinky finger. The Shift key is to the left of Z for the left hand and to the right of / for the right hand.

You can also press the Caps Lock key.  When you press Caps Lock, all keys that you hit will be Capitalized unless your press the Caps Lock key again or press the Shift key.  If you press the Shift key while the Caps Lock is on and press a key it will be lowercase.

ADDING A SPACE

To add a space between letters or sentences press the Spacebar with with your thumb.  You can use your left or right thumb.  The Spacebar is located in the middle of the bottom row.  It is the largest button on the keyboard.