Do People Type with the Left or Right Hand More?

About 56% of two hand typing is done with the left hand. This of course differs from the hunt-and-peck style typists, who tend to use their dominant hand more often. This, among other things, has led to criticisms of the QWERTY keyboard from those who favor alternatives, like the Dvorak keyboard, which organized the keys by frequency of usage.

More facts about typing and keyboards:

• The QWERTY-style keyboard was patented in 1878. People hated the design at first because of the seemingly awkward and counter-intuitive design, but it has outlasted other alternative designs, including the Dvorak and alphabetically arranged keyboards.


• The typing speed of the average person is 30 to 40 words per minute. Anything more than 50 words per minute is considered excellent, and some people have been clocked at over 90 words per minute.


• With the Dvorak keyboard, you can type over 400 words without leaving the middle, or home row. With the QWERTY keyboard, you can only type about 100 words.