7
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Why did designers not arrange the numbers on numpads like ATM or phone keypads?
I mean, 7 8 9 - 4 5 6 - 1 2 3 - 0 vs. 1 2 3 - 4 5 6 - 7 8 9 - 0.
Does human brain work the reverse way when working with computer keyboard?
Computer keyboard numpad:
ATM keypad:
Phone keypad:
Mehper C. Palavuzlar
Posted 2012-01-26T13:46:18.087
Reputation: 51 093
7
The second link that slhck posted hits it right on the head. The keyboard number pad has the layout it does because that's the same way a calculator is laid-out. The idea was that accountants and others who frequently-used calculators would find it easier to use the number pad, as opposed to the numbers off of the top row.
As a developer, I always hit numbers off of the top-row of the keyboard. On the other hand, I have two friends who are CPAs and they frequently use the number pad...and they are incredibly fast when they do it.
Aaron
Posted 2012-01-26T13:46:18.087
Reputation: 752
1
Try labeling a calculator keypad with the letters A-Z in the same way they're arranged on a telephone keypad (taken from the old dial telephones) and typing something like 1-800-GET-SPAM. You'll find that the alphabet is reversed in 3-letter chunks. That's what the old Bell Labs test was about - speed of typing alphabetic "phone numbers" on different key layouts. If they had used a calculator format, all the companies with mnemonic phone numbers would have been up in arms.
Peter Desnoyers
Posted 2012-01-26T13:46:18.087
Reputation: 11
how stupid of Bell Labs – userJT – 2017-06-06T20:08:19.647
2
There are only theories. No specific reason. See: Keyboard trivia and Why is the keypad arrangement different for a telephone and a calculator?
– slhck – 2012-01-26T13:53:29.4031
The brain doesn't work in reverse, but you do learn to use both separately and switch contexts. See also http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/16666/why-do-numpads-on-keyboards-and-phones-have-reversed-layouts
– Ben Brocka – 2012-04-20T16:09:39.963