Actually, the first typewriters typed only in all-caps. The invention of the shift key allowed for the use of lower-case letters for the first time. Even after this improvement, other manufacturers chose to add 26 more keys to the typewriter’s keyboard to allow for lower-case letters. Thankfully, Remington’s preferred solution became widely accepted after only a few years.
It was also around 1878 that ten-finger typing became the preferred method of stenographers, replacing the more cumbersome two-finger method. Over a century later, the popularity of personal computers and the problems associated with them have led some users to employ an even more drastic one-finger method. Ahem.
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