QWERTY vs AZERTY vs QWERTZ
Compare QWERTY, AZERTY, and QWERTZ keyboard layouts interactively. See the differences at a glance and find out which layout is used in your country.
Key differences
Invented in 1873 to prevent typewriter jams. The mechanical constraint is gone - but the layout stuck.
Swaps A/Q and Z/W. Wasn't officially standardized in France until 2019.
The bottom line
No layout is objectively better. Use the one your country uses and learn to touch type with all ten fingers.
The three layouts in 30 seconds
| Layout | Where | What's different |
|---|---|---|
| QWERTY | USA, UK, most of the world | The original, the default for programming |
| AZERTY | France, Belgium | A and Q swapped with Z and W, M next to L, dedicated accent keys |
| QWERTZ | Germany, Austria, Switzerland | Y and Z swapped, dedicated keys for Ä, Ö, Ü and ß |
Each name is simply the first six keys in the top left.
Where the differences come from
Christopher Latham Sholes designed QWERTY in 1873 for Remington's typewriters. Frequent letter pairs were placed far apart so the type bars wouldn't jam. The mechanics have been gone for over 100 years, the layout stayed.
AZERTY emerged in the early 20th century as the French adaptation. It only became an official standard in 2019, with norm NF Z71-300, partly so that accented capitals could finally be typed properly.
QWERTZ swaps Y and Z because Z is far more common in German than Y. Umlauts and ß got their own keys.
Which layout should you learn?
The one used in your country. It's the layout on every keyboard you'll meet at the office, in a hotel or at a colleague's desk. The layout barely affects your speed: the Aalto study "How We Type" found the strongest predictors to be a consistent finger-to-key mapping, preparing the next keystroke and little hand movement. You learn all three in the course on QWERTY, QWERTZ or AZERTY. Alternatives like Dvorak or Colemak put the most frequent letters on the home row, but very few people use them. What the layout-independent technique is all about: What Is Touch Typing?. Key-by-key differences and how to switch layouts back: QWERTY vs AZERTY vs QWERTZ. Whether every key on your keyboard works: keyboard tester.
Sources
- QWERTY (Wikipedia) - origin in 1873, Christopher Latham Sholes, Remington.
- AZERTY (Wikipedia, French) - adoption in France and the 2019 norm NF Z71-300.
- QWERTZ-Tastaturbelegung (Wikipedia, German) - the Y/Z swap and umlaut keys.
- How We Type - Aalto University, CHI 2016: what actually predicts typing speed.
Ready to type faster?
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