When you're typing, or multitasking, we all use those few extra seconds to find our home-row, the asdfjkl; of which are non- thumb fingers belong too. There's the two dots on keys F and J, but you still have to feel for them. There is another way.

For those people who are constantly working on their keyboard, a little help can go a long way and save a lot of frustration. How can we help them find their home row faster, even if just a few fractions of a second faster, without having their eyes have to move from their screen? Simply and cheaply? Think magnets. We all feel the pull of magnets, even if very small. Attach magnets onto keys F and J, and have little cloth thimbles that go onto their appropriate fingers. They can feel the small pull (or push) between the magnet and the F and J keys, effectively finding their home keys without needing to look down.

For those hard-core keyboard users, you can have magnets implanted into your fingertips. I'm sure company insurance would cover it.
-- twitch, May 30 2007

Home keys that feel like home Home_20keys_20that_20feel_20like_20home
ASDF sweet JKL; [ldischler, Jun 02 2007]

hey hb back up and running...

+1 for that!
-- po, May 31 2007


FJ? some kind of code?
-- po, May 31 2007


The Farmer John keys.
-- normzone, May 31 2007


The F and J keys are where your 2 index fingers are properly placed on your keyboard, ready for typing.
-- twitch, May 31 2007


On back of envelope, compare the aggregated milliseconds saved by this means with the minutes lost looking for those cloth thimbles.
-- pertinax, May 31 2007


Why not have all the keys in a single row instead?
-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 31 2007


Think of hte neck strain you could avoid by not having to look down so often. Think of the eyestrain saved by not having to change eyeball focus many times per minute. Of course, it all depends on how much time you spend on your keyboard.
-- twitch, Jun 01 2007


If you put electro-magnets under all the keys, you could type automatically. As a letter is chosen, its electromagnet would switch on, attracting the nearest (steel-implanted) finger to press down on it; this electromagnet would then be switched off, and another activated beneath the next key in the sequence. The nearest finger to this key would then be irresistibly drawn to it, and so on. Typing would be a simple matter of loosely dangling your fingers over the keyboard, and letting the magnets do all the work.
-- zen_tom, Jun 01 2007


ooh,[zen_tom]--I like it...
-- xandram, Jun 01 2007


How do you choose which letters are typed [Tom]? Presumably by tapping them?
-- theleopard, Jun 01 2007


//How do you choose...? // No need, that's what the magnets are there for.

Alternately, you could have someone type it out on another keyboard first, and then have the information fed into your keyboard using a blue tooth or an internet or something.
-- zen_tom, Jun 01 2007


//that's what the magnets are there for.//

So you can only type what the magnets tell you to type? What do magnets like to type about?
-- theleopard, Jun 01 2007


//What do magnets like to type about?// magnetmagnetmagnet magnetmagnetmagnet - that kind of thing - who reads anything these days anyway?
-- zen_tom, Jun 01 2007


//who reads anything these days anyway?//

No need to type anything then.
-- theleopard, Jun 01 2007


magnetmagnetmagnet magnetmagnetmagnetmag netmagnetmagnetmag netmagnetmagnetmag netmagnetmagnetmagn etmagnet
-- zen_tom, Jun 01 2007




-- theleopard, Jun 01 2007


magnet
-- zen_tom, Jun 01 2007


What are you trying to tell me?!
-- theleopard, Jun 01 2007


If you are that concerned with losing track of your homekeys switch to a Dvorak keyboard. Your fingers leave the home row far less than with a Qwerty.

Oh, and get a keyboard with a trackpoint in it, so you don't have to switch away to a mouse.
-- Galbinus_Caeli, Jun 01 2007


Just have an endless field of keys. The computer will analyse you are typing, and readjust its frame of reference so that your yammerings most resemble human thoughts.
-- GutPunchLullabies, Jun 01 2007


Although for me it will probably just give up and list an endless line of ??????'s.
-- GutPunchLullabies, Jun 01 2007


Why not devise a language which requires no more than ten letters?
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 02 2007


089,079,085,032,
077,069,065,078,
032,076,073,075,
069,032,065,083,
067,073,073,063
-- zen_tom, Jun 02 2007


Is that how you spell 'magnet'?
-- theleopard, Jun 02 2007


No it's a way of encoding language in 10 'letters' - plus commas, for readability.

Magnet (or more accurately, MAGNET) would be 'spelt'

077,065,071,078,069,084

We could go a step further and utilise a binary keyboard, and have typists tapping out sequences of Ones and Zeros. The keys should be labelled "One" and "Zero"

01001101, 01000001, 01000111, 01001110, 01000101, 01010100
-- zen_tom, Jun 02 2007


// The keys should be labelled "One" and "Zero"// but which way round?
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 02 2007


This would sell a lot of magnets, making the evil Magnet Magnates even richer.

As for neck strain, try looking down with just your eyes, not your whole head.

Maybe a smoke machine and lasers of different colors firing up out of the keys. That way when you cover the green and red lasers for F and J, you won't have to look down at all.

Adds that constant disco effect everyone wants at work.
-- Giblet, Jun 02 2007



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