doug@nixtdc.uucp (Doug Moen) (07/31/90)
tonyrich@titanic.cs.wisc.edu (Anthony Rich): >It sounds like this entire topic is basically about whether it would be >useful to move what are now modifier keys (control, option, command) or >extra mouse buttons (on non-Mac systems) to a separate keyboard of their own. The reason I want a chord keyboard is so that I can keep my right hand on the mouse all the time, and my left hand on the keyboard all the time. Having to shift my hands between the mouse and keyboard is one of the more annoying aspects of WIMP user interfaces. >Chords are only more efficient than other ways of accomplishing the same >thing if you can recall them instantly. You lose BIG every time you have >to look one up in an online or offline manual, so they introduce a learning >curve inefficiency that's based on About 10 years ago, I read a series of papers about a chord keyboard developed in one of the IBM research labs. It was a true one-handed keyboard. There were 4 thumb keys, and a 3x6 array of finger keys. The finger keys had semi-spherical "dimples" in the center, along the edges, and in the corners. By pressing an edge dimple, you depressed two keys at once. By depressing a corner dimple, you depressed 4 keys at one. This meant that there were really 55 single-finger keystrokes on the finger pad. The keys on the thumb pad had semi-cylindrical dimples, so there were really 7 possible thumb strokes. The thumb keys were used as modifiers. The keyboard was labelled, so you could learn to type using hunt-and-peck. The keyboard had a cpu that let you define multi-finger chord "macros", and I believe they defined a standard set to speed up the entry of english text. Also, the keyboard layout was carefully designed to optimize english typing. For example, you could type "the" without lifting your fingers from home row, which is also true of the Dvorak keyboard. After a few months practice, the college students they used as guinea pigs were able to achieve one-handed typing rates comparable to those achieved by a trained qwerty touch typist. I'm typing this in from a 10 year old memory, so there may be inaccuracies. If you want the reference, you could try looking up "Chord keyboard" in the keyword index of the annual ACM computing reviews indices at your local university library. Doug Moen.