What's The Difference Between American And British Keyboards?

There are plenty of differences between the U.K. and the U.S., from our slang and humor to how we refer to certain objects (you may not want to go pants shopping with your grandma in the United Kingdom). Some of our tech differs, too, and a prime example of this is the variations in our keyboards.

While both use QWERTY layouts, ANSI keyboards are most commonly found in the U.S. and Canada and follow standards set by the American National Standards Institute. ISO keyboards, on the other hand, are typically used in the U.K. and Europe, and follow the standards set by the International Organization for Standardization. This means there are a few noticeable differences between British and American keyboards when it comes to key positioning and the number of keys. Below we break down the main differences between U.K. and U.S. keyboards, and the reason for them.

While both follow QWERTY layouts — and have bumps on the 'F' and 'J' keys — the easiest way to tell a U.S. keyboard from a U.K. one is by looking at the Enter key. On an ISO keyboard, the Enter key is tall, chunky, and has the shape of an upside-down, reversed "L." However, the same key on ANSI keyboards is shaped like a horizontal rectangle.

The left-Shift key, too, has a different shape; in the U.S., it's long and horizontal, but in the U.K., it's much shorter. This is because the ISO keyboard actually features an extra key between the Shift and "Z" key for extra symbols. This means a full-sized British keyboard actually has 105 keys, as opposed to the U.S. equivalent's 104 — though this can vary by platform and model.

Other smaller differences include the inclusion of keys for the "£" and "$"/"€" symbols on U.K. keyboards (on the "3" and "4" keys, respectively), while U.S. keyboards only feature the "$" symbol on the "3" key. In addition, on a British keyboard, the "@" character shares a key with the apostrophe, while the quotation mark shares the "2" key, requiring you to hold Shift with either key to enter it. In the U.S., this is reversed, with "@" and "2" sharing a key, and the apostrophe and quotation mark sharing another. Similarly, these keyboards feature different positioning for symbols like hash, backslash, and tilde, while ISO keyboards also feature an Alt GR (alternative graphic) key for special characters on PCs, that the ANSI typically lacks. 

There are linguistic, practical, and historical reasons for the difference in the layouts of U.K. and U.S. keyboards. The computer keyboard evolved from the typewriter, which was invented in the U.S. in the 19th century and so was suited to American English linguistics, not to the needs of other languages. 

As typewriters became more commonly used across the globe, different regions, including the U.K. and Europe, adapted the layout for their own needs. While U.S. keyboards prioritize the dollar symbol (its own currency), the U.K.layout features the pound sterling, dollar, and euro symbols as ISO keyboards are largely designed for language compatibility throughout Europe. 

This also means that while U.S. keyboards often prioritize technical symbols, European keyboards prioritize language symbols. These variations in regional layouts then transitioned into computer keyboards and were standardized by organizations like ISO and ANSI. Next time you're cleaning your keyboard, take a closer look, and you'll see these differences for yourself. Just don't think that your keyboard's switch colors have anything to do with your region.