The keyboard is designed the way it is to slow typing down, not to speed it up. That is why you have to reach to type the most popular letters, e and i. They also come from different directions. Back in the day, letters were located at the end of an arm that swung up and hit a typewriter ribbon. The location of the letters prevented the keys from jamming. However, the long/awkward symbols one needs to reach for are placed for ease, and more /'s than ?'s were used at the turn of the century, when the keyboard was designed. Much as we would never use a measuring system of inches and feet vs metric centimeters and meters today, if the keyboard were designed based on today's technology, it would be designed differently.