Input Envy [09/03/2006 16:53:33]
I'm a big fan of alternate keyboards. My windows laptop flips converts to a pen-based tablet-pc, I run fitaly on my palm pilot, and I replaced the keyboard on my iBook with a MacNTouch keyboard (sadly, they're no longer produced). Each of those input systems have their uses.
When I'm entering digital text with a pen, fitaly seems a little faster and often more reliable than writing on the tablet, but writing on the tablet with something like OneNote is much more fluid, almost like interactive paper. Even when the computer can't recognize my handwriting, I can still read it myself, and being able to move around handwritten ideas is a very fluid way of thinking. (The voice recognition on the tablet is also really nice - one of the fastest operating modes of a tablet PC is dictating into a headset, and then correcting on the fly with the pen.)
I went with the dvorak layout for the MacNTouch, and that slows me down a little bit, only because I do most of my typing on a qwerty layout. The dvorak layout really is more comfortable, but it screws up my emacs muscle memory, so I don't use it quite as often. I just set up dvorak on winXP since I'm typing this in dreamweaver rather than emacs, and I'm definitely making a lot more mistakes than normal. I probably just ought to relearn emacs and stick with dvorak. :)
However, MacNTouch keyboard makes my iBook usable. Apple's default keyboard is tiny and cramped to begin with, and then user interface forces you to use the touchpad for just about everything, so I was constantly having to turn my wrists or move my whole arm to get to the touchpad. With MacNTouch, the entire keyboard is a touchpad, and the gesture recognition and chording means I barely have to move my hands to interact with the system. Besides the dvorak layout, though, I think the lack of physical keys tends to slow me down the most. So it's very comfortable and usable even without a desk, but a little slow.
When I travel, I bring along a wireless Microsoft natural ergonomic keyboard and mouse, and I use that with both my tablet and the iBook when I'm trying to get some serious work done. These keyboards are curved, with a split in the center so your hands are at a more natural angle. I have a wired one on my desk, and so I do almost all of my serious typing on this style of keyboards. When I was programming for hire, I even bought a keyboard like that for the office.
I hate mice. I use a thumb-based trackball instead of a mouse. Even then, I hate reaching over to the right to use it. Reaching is bad juju. I've tried keyboards with touchpads built in, but never found one I really liked, and those little eraser things that come on laptops just don't cut it.
I think it would help considerably if I could cut off the numeric keypad. Right now, to reach the trackball, I have to move my hands past the arrow keys and then past the numeric keypad. I use the keypad for the calculator app, but that's about it. I'd probably be better off learning to type with the number row.
In fact, what would be really nice would be to have the arrow keys right under my fingers. I use the arrow and backspace keys constantly - way more than I use the mouse. If someone made a keyboard where all those keys to the right were gone, and you could just press a modifier key with one hand to transform the keys under your right hand into arrow keys (or even a numeric keyboard), that would rock! Then I'd hardly ever have to move my hands except to reach for the trackball, and when I did, it would be much, much closer.
Well, guess what? Someone made a keyboard like that! It's called a TypeMatrix, and it looks like this:
The TypeMatrix has the enter and backspace keys in the center. It's got two sets of arrow keys, a "dvorak" button (you can also get the keyboard with the letters printed in dvorak). It's even got a Euro key!
Not surprisingly, TypeMatrix got dugg a while back, and also not surprisingly, almost all the comments were negative. I guess I'm in the minority here, but that's okay. I'm sold on this thing, and my company owes me a birthday present. :)