What's the ideal keyboard layout for a mobile device?
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The QWERTY keyboard layout, famously, was designed to help prevent keys jamming on manual typewriters. The Dvorak layout was designed to allow faster touch typing on a full-size keyboard. I use the QWERTY layout on my mobile phone, but that got me thinking: If we didn't have to worry about legacy practices, what would the ideal keyboard layout be for touch typing on a smart phone? Given the completely different way you're using your fingers, I can't imagine that QWERTY, Dvorak, or pure alphabetical order would be best, but I'm not expert enough to know what would be. Suggestions? Pointers?
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Answer:
The only one I've seen that's optimised for touchscreen usability issues is "dextr" (http://www.textwithdextr.com/). Bearing in mind that touchscreens are largely for mobile devices, it makes sense to have a KEYPAD, rather than a keyboard. i.e. something that can be operated one-handed. Dextr's Key Usability Fixes: The keys are arranged alphabetically. This reduces the learning curve enormously. Especially for the 5 billion or so people already used to mobile text entry (via the T9 alphanumeric keypad on most mobiel phones) The vowels are highligthed and aligned vertically, under the index finger. The letter grid is shaped to map the human hand, and factors in our shorter thumbs and pinkies. Keys are fingertip sized, fingertip shaped and spaced one fingerwidth apart. It has multiple layouts with this same config so it's optimised for text entry with one-finger, two-thumb or one-hand (all five fingers) It even flips for lefties.
John Lambie at Quora Visit the source
Other answers
Look into the Fitaly, Opti, Hooke, ATOMIK, and Metropolis keyboard layouts; they are all designed for typing on touch-screens. The Metropolis layout: Further reading: Performance Optimization of Virtual Keyboards Shumin Zhai, Michael Hunter, and Barton A. Smith http://www.shuminzhai.com/papers/ZhaiHunterSmithHCIGalley.pdf
Peter Kamb
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