Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!bu.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!quinn From: quinn@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Clark Quinn) Newsgroups: comp.edu Subject: Re: Efficient Keyboards Message-ID: <49068@unix.cis.pitt.edu> Date: 16 Oct 90 14:33:49 GMT References: <1990Oct15.224911.16099@nntp-server.caltech.edu> Reply-To: quinn@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Clark Quinn) Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh, Comp & Info Services Lines: 47 On the subject of chord keyboards, I wrote this note to another group recently. It seems appropriate here. >> This is a plea for someone to come up with an input device for the off hand/ >> non mouse-using hand. > >I think the inventor of the mouse, Doug Engelbart, did have an input device >for the other hand. As I recall it was a simple five-fingered keyboard. >I'm not sure what the keys did. > I believe, although I'm not certain, that the five-fingered keyboard Englebart used was a chord keyboard, where combinations of key presses could specify different characters. This has always been a reasonable idea, with the one caveat that the combinations can be hard to learn. An acquaintance of mine came up with a ten-key (ie two hand) chord keyboard that he claimed was faster and easier than even a Dvorak keyboard*. He tried to get Apple to invest in it. I was involved in a CHI lab at the time (at UCSD) and he came and gave a presentation. Don Norman (leader of the lab and my advisor) thought that the most innovative thing about the work was the key mapping that Will had devised (chord keyboards were old news). As far as I know, nothing ever came of Will's keyboard, nor the use of chord keyboards. (* Don has also evaluated Dvorak in comparison to other keyboards and decided that while, on average, they're 10-15% faster, they're not worth the cost to reimplement for the entire country {or the entire english speaking world, yes, Dvorak is English specific}). It may turn out that the combination of a five-fingered chord keyboard for one hand and pointing/clicking device for the other (be it mouse, trackball, or pen) is the most efficient input method for two hands. Or consider a ten-keyed chord keyboard (which should easily cover all the separate keys you might want) that could roll around on the desktop. It will require, however, a good analysis of the efficiency of various designs of both the physical characteristics of the keyboards and the psychological issues in mapping key combinations to characters.. I sympathize with the original posters request and hope that further research might devise such a device. -- Clark ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clark N. Quinn (412) 624-9581 Learning Research and Development Center quinn@unix.cis.pitt.edu University of Pittsburgh quinn@pittunix.bitnet Pittsburgh, PA 15260