QWERTY in the context of "Colemak"

The romanization of the Russian language (the transliteration of Russian text from the Cyrillic script into the Latin script), aside from its primary use for including Russian names and words in text written in a Latin alphabet, is also essential for computer users to input Russian text who either do not have a keyboard or word processor set up for inputting Cyrillic, or else are not capable of typing rapidly using a native Russian keyboard layout (JCUKEN). In the latter case, they would type using a system of transliteration fitted for their keyboard layout, such as for English QWERTY keyboards, and then use an automated tool to convert the text into Cyrillic.

A keyboard layout is any specific physical, visual, or functional arrangement of the keys, legends, or key-meaning associations (respectively) of a computer keyboard, mobile phone, or other computer-controlled typographic keyboard. Standard keyboard layouts vary depending on their intended writing system, language, and use case, and some hobbyists and manufacturers create non-standard layouts to match their individual preferences, or for extended functionality.

Caret (from Latin caret 'there is lacking') is the name used familiarly for the character ^ provided on most QWERTY keyboards by typing ⇧ Shift+6. The symbol has a variety of uses in programming and mathematics. The name "caret" arose from its visual similarity to the original proofreader's caret, ‸, a mark used in proofreading to indicate where a punctuation mark, word, or phrase should be inserted into a document. The ASCII standard (X3.64.1977) calls it a "circumflex"; the Unicode standard calls it a "circumflex accent", although it is no longer practicable for that purpose.

Christopher Latham Sholes (February 14, 1819 – February 17, 1890) was an American inventor who invented the QWERTY keyboard, and, along with Samuel W. Soule, Carlos Glidden and John Pratt, has been contended to be one of the inventors of the first typewriter in the United States. He was also a newspaper publisher and Wisconsin politician. In his time, Sholes went by the names C. Latham Sholes, Latham Sholes, or C. L. Sholes, but never "Christopher Sholes" or "Christopher L. Sholes".

The Sholes and Glidden typewriter (also known as the Remington No. 1) was the first commercially successful typewriter. Principally designed by the American inventor Christopher Latham Sholes, it was developed with the assistance of fellow printer Samuel W. Soule and amateur mechanic Carlos S. Glidden. Work began in 1867, but Soule left the enterprise shortly thereafter, replaced by James Densmore, who provided financial backing and the driving force behind the machine's continued development. After several short-lived attempts to manufacture the device, the machine was acquired by E. Remington and Sons in early 1873. An arms manufacturer seeking to diversify, Remington further refined the typewriter before finally placing it on the market on July 1, 1874.

During its development, this typewriter evolved from a crude curiosity into a practical device, the basic form of which became the industry standard. The machine incorporated elements which became fundamental to typewriter design, including a cylindrical platen and a four row QWERTY keyboard. Several design deficiencies remained, however. The Sholes and Glidden could print only upper-case letters—an issue remedied in its successor, the Remington No. 2—and was a "blind writer", meaning the typist could not see what was being written as it was entered.

Dvorak (/ˈdvɔːræk/ ) is a keyboard layout for Latin-script alphabets patented in 1936 by August Dvorak and his brother-in-law, William Dealey, as a faster and more ergonomic alternative for typing English, compared to the 1874 QWERTY layout (the de facto standard keyboard layout). Dvorak proponents claim that it requires less finger motion and as a result reduces errors, increases typing speed, reduces repetitive strain injuries, or is simply more comfortable than QWERTY.

Dvorak has failed to replace QWERTY as the most common keyboard layout, with the most pointed-to reasons being that QWERTY was popularized 60 years prior to Dvorak's creation, and that Dvorak's advantages are debated and relatively small. However, most major modern operating systems (such as Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, ChromeOS, and BSD) allow a user to switch to the Dvorak layout. The layout can be chosen for use with any hardware keyboard, regardless of any characters printed on the key caps.

The QWERTZ (/ˈkwɜːrts/ KWURTS) QWERTZU (/ˈkwɜːrtsuː/ KWURT-soo), or QWERTZUIOP keyboard is a typewriter and keyboard layout widely used in Central and Southeast Europe. The name comes from the first six letters at the top left of the keyboard: (Q W E R T Z).

AZERTY (/əˈzɜːrti/ ə-ZUR-tee) is a specific layout for the characters of the Latin alphabet on typewriter keys and computer keyboards. The layout takes its name from the first six letters to appear on the first row of alphabetical keys; that is, (A Z E R T Y). Like other European keyboard layouts, it is modelled on the English-language QWERTY layout. It is used in France and Belgium, though both countries have their own national variation on the layout.

The competing layouts devised for French (e.g. the 1907 ZHJAY layout, Arav Dixit's 1976 layout, the 2002 Dvorak-fr, and the 2005 BÉPO layout) have obtained only limited recognition, although the latter has been included in the 2019 French keyboard layout standard.