Digital Media Concepts/The Evolution Of Keyboards

Introduction

A keyboard is an input device enabling a user to input text onto a computer as well as other electronics. The first writing devices created around the year 1700 showing that the evolution of keyboards spans centuries, from the early mechanical typewriters to the modern computer keyboards. The keyboard has gone under countless changes and transformations driven by technological advancements and ever evolving user needs.

Early Typewriters

The concept of the keyboard dates back to the invention of typewriters. Early versions of the typewriter created around the year 1700 with the first patent being from a man named Henry Mill in the year 1714 came with the QWERTY keyboard layout this layout was created to prevent people from typing too fast which would cause typewriters to jam and break this layout is still used today. Typewriters used an array of keys when pressed caused a inked ribbon to strike the paper selectively with a letter.

Computer Keyboards

Mechanical Keyboards

Mechanical keyboards for computers have a long history that can be traced back to the mid-20th century when early computers relied on typewriter-inspired input devices. These keyboards were equipped with switches resembling those found in typewriters, providing both durability and tactile feedback. In the 1980s the introduction of the CHERRY MX switches took the mechanical keyboard world by storm. These switches offered users various options when coming to keyboards.

Membrane Keyboards

Membrane keyboards emerged as a cheaper, less complex, and easier to make alternative to mechanical keyboards. Utilizing a layer of rubber instead of switches these keyboards worked by completing a electrical circuit with each press. Membrane keyboards gained popularity due in the 1990s due to their cheaper production costs, quieter operation, and reduced chance of getting dirty quickly like mechanical keyboards.

Modern Day Keyboards

Touch Screen Keyboards

Touch screen keyboards are keyboards used on devices that have a touch screen such mobile devices or other devices featuring a touch screen. Most modern touch screen keyboards work through sending out light and sound waves that you finger will block when touching the screen which is relayed back to your mobile device giving you the desired input.

Wireless keyboards

Wireless keyboards use infrared, or radio waves such as bluetooth instead of wires to communicate to your device. Infared keyboards use light waves to send signals as to where wireless keyboards that depend on bluetooth or wifi use radio frequencies to communicate with your device.

Modern Mechanical Keyboards

Modern keyboards have become more mainstream in recent years due to the wide range of options and customization offered from thousands of different companies. With the market offering a keyboards that light up and change color, lower actuation points, and a wide range of choices in size, such as full sized, or a compacter version such as 60% keyboards, 65% keyboards, 70% keyboards, 80% keyboards, etc.

Actuation Points of Modern Mechanical Keyboards

Actuations points are the point in which a user has to push down on a key for the keyboard to register the keypress due to the switches they have. Top of the line keyboards such as the SteelSeries APEX PRO TKL 2023 and Wooting 60HE are compact keyboards with switches custom made by the respective companies allowing their keyboards to have actuation points as low as 0.1mm, which is mostly used by competitive gamers as faster registering keypresses allow for faster responses giving you a overall advantage and is adjustable by software on your computer, all the way up to 4mm. This is possible due to the switches using adjustable magnet to register keypresses.

Modern Membrane Keyboards

While membrane keyboards are still used by many companies as a "default keyboard" due to the cheap production cost most users just opt for purchasing a mechanical keyboard themself from a third party. Membrane keyboards still use the rubber layer to register keypresses.