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Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: net.lang,net.internat
Subject: Re: What do we REALLY want? (really keyboard design)
Message-ID: <6149@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 18-Nov-85 17:59:08 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.6149
Posted: Mon Nov 18 17:59:08 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 18-Nov-85 17:59:08 EST
References: <723@inset.UUCP> <960@erix.UUCP> <1569@hammer.UUCP>, <328@snow.warwick.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 20
Keywords: Keyboard design, character sets

> ...I have enough problems coping with modes in editors ...
> without having to worry about what mode the *keyboard* is in as well!
> This sort of information must be duplicated on the screen if it is to be
> useful at all... Another problem -- look at the buttons on your keyboard.
> Are they clean?  Not only do fingers conceal the keytops, but dirt wouldn't
> help either, as well as the difficulty of getting an adequate connection to the
> tiny display as it moves up & down.

Actually, these problems can be solved by a sneaky trick.  You put an angled
glass plate over the keyboard, in your line of sight to it but high enough
that it does not obstruct hand access.  Then you put a monitor in the right
place so that the image of the monitor face seen in the glass is superimposed
on the keyboard.  Presto:  keytop displays that are dirt-proof and can be
seen *through* your fingers.  No tricky connection problems either.  It's
been tried, and it works pretty well.

It doesn't solve the problem of wanting to touch-type, though.
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry