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A very quick Google search for "five finger typist" tells me that
there
are lots of programs and tutors available for teaching amputees to
type efficiently on a standard keyboard with one hand. Whoda
thunkit right?
What even a more extensive search failed to produce was a
precedent for
an
efficient method being developed for typing
efficiently with one hand on a smartphone or tablet computer.
Such
compact QWERTY keypads are about the same width as 4 fingers
held together (slightly wider in portrait mode on my Tab, exactly
the
same in landscape mode on my MyTouch and Cliq XT).
There are a lot of 7 inch tablets coming out these days (the
Galaxy
Tab, Dell Streak 7, HTC Evo View, and HTC Flyer to name a few).
It's an ideal size for a mobile tablet, and it's going to make itself
widely known in the coming months, and given the already
existing
prevalence of touchscreen smartphones with virtual QWERTY
keypads, I think an efficient method for typing on such a keypad
while holding the mobile device in the other hand is called for.
And that's the big idea. A method of typing quickly and efficiently
on a compact mobile QWERTY keypad with one hand which
utilizes all 4 (perhaps even 5) fingers on that hand for maximum
speed, range of motion efficiency, and accuracy.
[link]
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so... where do the other three fingers go ? |
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The idea is to use all of the fingers (and possibly the thumb) on
the hand used for typing. |
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So basically "We should research to find out the best miniature keyboard layout for one-handed texting" |
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No. A motion-study expert or typing specialist should find a
method for typing on the already-prevalent compact QWERTY
layout which incorporates as many of the fingers on the typing
hand as possible to get the greatest speed and accuracy
possible, assuming one hand is holding the device, and the
other is used for typing.
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The idea is that one-finger pecking and dual thumb pecking are
imperfect, inefficient adaptations to the layout. Full size
standard keyboards, which sit on a desktop and require no
support from the user utilize 10-finger typing (ie, all fingers on
both hands). Smartphones and tablets should make the most
use possible of the one hand used for typing.
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I just think it's an understudied field of research given the
prevalence of compact QWERTY keypads. |
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//10 finger typing// more like the thumbs share a spacebar and the fingers do everything else. So there's a starting point. [edit: whoops, guess you can tell I don't have a mobile text-thingy]
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A quick perusal of one-handed keyboard layouts, it looks like they chop the keyboard in half and mirror whichever half is the non-typing hand, so the "home row" would look like this for left-handed typing:
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A S D F G switchable to ; L K J H (note the right-hand is reversed so using the left hand you still get the same finger usage, eg: the index finger would be used for the F and J)
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Perhaps a staggered layout so the homerow of a miniature keyboard would be
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Agreed. But the question then changes to "how do we
incorporate chording into existing mobile devices which were
built with physical QWERTY keypads or don't allow modification
of the virtual (ie, Windows Mobile 7 and iPhone)?". Would it
require an
aftermarket accessory to be paired with the smartphone or
tablet? An extra accessory, such as a chorded glove keypad,
might make doing other things around the office inconvenient. |
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