QWERTZ

QWERTZ is a keyboard layout widely used in German-speaking regions, including Germany, Austria, and parts of Switzerland. It is a variant of the QWERTY family, distinguished primarily by swapping the positions of the letters Z and Y compared with QWERTY. In addition, the layout provides keys for the German diacritics ä, ö, and ü, and the eszett ß, enabling typical German orthography without excessive finger movement. Punctuation and symbol placement also differ from the standard US layout, often requiring the AltGr key to access certain characters.

The development of QWERTZ arose from typewriter and early computer keyboard design needs in Central Europe, where German orthography governed key choices. The arrangement aimed to improve typing efficiency by aligning common letters and digraphs with adjacent fingers, while accommodating umlauts and the ß. Today, QWERTZ has become the de facto standard in German-language computing, with regional variations reflecting local typing practices and hardware.

Differences from QWERTY go beyond the Z/Y swap; many German keyboards place umlaut characters on dedicated keys, and the ß character is frequently accessible as a separate key or via a modifier combination. Some Swiss variants and vendor-specific keyboards adjust the layout further to suit bilingual or multilingual use. Software and operating systems typically provide explicit German (Germany/Austria) and Swiss German keyboard configurations, allowing users to switch between layouts as needed.

In practice, QWERTZ shapes everyday typing for German and other Central European languages, influencing both physical keyboard design and input methods in digital environments.