Originally Posted By: bexter
I know that the English keyboard has been set out in order to make it easy to type words with two hands without having to cross over too much ...


I'm not sure this is actually true. My understanding is that the layout of the keyboard was designed to INCREASE the amount of crossing over required. On old fashioned typewriters, the main problem was the keys hitting each other and sticking. This was much more likely to happen if nearby keyes were pressed. Hence, the QUERTY system was (informally) meant to increase the alternation of hands, or rather, reduce the likelyhood of nearby keys being pressed in succession.