Item — HN Reader

This still doesn’t explain one of my biggest peeves with keyboards:

Why are the keys angled up and to the left — for both hands?

Was this to solve the type bar jamming?

Or is that also an urban legend?

I know there are modern keyboards that solve this, by either splitting the keyboard and angling in the natural direction of your fingers (so to the right for the left hand, and vice versa), or just ortholinear keyboards that have straight rows of keys (but still angled ergonomically).

But that ridiculousness has lived on, such that even “economic” split keyboards will still angle both sides to the left.

The key levers had to be staggered on their way back to the type bars so they wouldn't hit each other. The angle isn't ergonomic in origin but mechanical. You probably haven't ever seen a mechanical typewriter, but maybe you can find one to experiment with, or at least a YouTube video showing the workings.

> You probably haven't ever seen a mechanical typewriter

Really? I see them all over the place. They're very rarely used for typing (except by hipsters in parks) but the are tons used for decoration or in historical scenes.