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Keyboard Layouts for the 21st Century?
jules asks: "Trying to do some programming on an iBook the other day brought to my attention the fact that despite the constant improvements to the design of computer hardware and software, the keyboards we use are still a throwback to the early 1980s. I mean - my Mac doesn't have room for page up/down or home/end keys, but it devotes a whole key to a sort of double-S shape that I will never press. And my PC keyboards all waste plastic on a backwards-apostrophe key and a scroll-lock (+ LED!), while functions that you use all the time, such as switching between windows, cut/copy/paste, back/forwards, undo/redo etc, all have to double-up with other keys.. Have any organizations actually tried to re-invent the keyboard recently? (..not counting the manufacturers who stick a few 'multimedia' keys along the top for consumer PCs). Would this be doomed to failure because of the tens of thousands of legacy apps that expect things to be the way they are? What sort of keys would you include in your fantasy keyboard layout?" It's not just the keys on your keyboard that are important, it's also how you arrange them. What kind of keyboard arrangements might we see in the future?
My super fast dvorak skills
Suck it qwerty (queer-ty) lovers.
Must not be a *nix user if he has no use for the tilde key!
In Soviet Rush, today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you.
You never use the back tick? How's Microsoft Windows treating you?
yes, but where do you buy these things?
:)
i tried to rearrange my qwerty keyboard, and ended up finding that the keys on row x are only meant for row x, and won't work on row x+1...!
i did manage to break my space bar too
so, my question is: if i have a keyboard that doesn't lend itsself to mod'ing, where can i find one of those fancy keyboards?
hmm..I see cat-tarl, and pig-up..uh.I think I'll just order me a Tab. Oops, the computer is starting, time for work
$cat
And most of all, all keyboards need an analog volume changer. With IBooks, you can change the volume using some function keys... but there needs a little spinny thing to change the audio (like what is in most refrigerator's to change the temp).
And lastly, I can't seem to find that double-S thing on my IBook?
--sex
Very popular slashdot journal for adul
that makes things go bang.
Not necessarily a standard key, but if one of those keyboards with one-touch Internet buttons would add a "Pornography" button it would save me some effort.
I would be glad to dump my "obsolete" keyboard if I could replace it with a 104-button mouse. :)
Hey man, I loved the QWERTY keyboard so much, I named my cat after it. She is a grey and white cat, and very friendly. And she'll punk your ergo-friendly Dvorak hamster in a second.
I've got a bad attitude and karma to burn. Go ahead. Mod me down.
A lot of work is being done to simplify keyboard layouts. Soon all keys will be replaced with brightly colored rectangles. Instead of 101 keys, you'll have a few large buttons which, coincidentally, lend themselves beautifully to touch screens. Instead of one character per button, each one is labeled with a multi-digit number. This way they were able to greatly reduce the number of buttons needed.
Here's an example...
As you can see, they're very efficient. A panel like this can control an entire starship.
I've got a whole drawer full of them. It's oddly satisfying to pry them off with a penknife and toss them in the drawer, knowing you'll never need 'em.
Cantankerous old coot since 1957.
Salesman: Look, the new Cyrius Cybernetics keyboards can talk! Describe whatever layout you want, and the AI in the keyboard will implement it. His name is Marvin.
Customer: Hello, Marvin. What are all those blinking lights for?
Marvin: They hurt.
Salesman: Shut up, Marvin. They're primarily decorative, but Marvin can assign them to whatever LOCK keys you specify.
Marvin: I've had this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side. I mean, I've asked to have them replaced, but nobody listens.
Customer: It seems unhappy.
Salesman: Well, Marvin would feel much better if someone took him home, if you take my drift.
Marvin: No I wouldn't.
Customer: Are you sure it will work with my Compaq 8000, at home?
Salesman: Definitely.
Marvin: They plugged me into a compaq once.
Customer: And what happened?
Marvin: It committed suicide.
Customer: Why are you so unhappy?
Marvin: I've got a brain the size of a planet, and look at what they've got me doing.
Customer: Do any of the peripherals here have better personalities?
Salesman: Oh, no...
Speaker: I wanted to let you know what a joy and a privelege it's been to make error sounds for your computer enjoyment! It's been really wonderful! Would you guys like to hear some public domain music? I used to be an elevator!
The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
I want to see the ultimate Macintosh keyboard ... one big white button in the center. That's it.
Cyde Weys Musings - Scrutinizing the inscrutable
Well, if Apple had their way, the keyboard would only have one key. ;)
"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert"
To begin, draw an S for snake, or dragon, or whatever, next we'll draw a more different S.
TROGDOR!
</Strongbad>
Me: Why did the chicken cross the road?
You: Why would a chicken cross a road to begin with?
As another poster said, you could cook the chicken
and make hotwings, or perhaps a good soup.
Me: No man, It's a joke. You know? Something that's
supposed to be funny?
You: What's a joke? Everything is supposed to be
serious on slashdot. Now about that chicken.....
The most important thing any republican needs to know.
Someday I am going to program my own JEFFKeyboard.
Hmmm, are you quite sure you're talking about your keyboard here?
> the input devices must make an evolutionary leap
I disagree. I think they should make a revolutionary step.
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
One that has the numberpad replaced with all the common hotkeys used in vi. That would effectively double the size of the keyboard though...
There's a growing sense that even if The Future comes,
most of us won't be able to afford it.
-- Lemmy
The original poster made much of the fact that there were several keys that he never used - the back-quote (used in word processing) and the Scroll Lock (used by many KVMs). Maybe manufacturers need to produce specialized keyboards based on what tasks you regularly perform.
Accountant Keyboard - Prominent numeric keypad and shortcuts to Excel macros. No caps-lock and only one set of Ctrl and Alt keys.
MS Office Keyboard - Microsoft has already done this. Don't really care for the mouse wheel located on the keyboard, but I only use Word and Visio to draw up requirements documents anyway. Has no brace {}[] keys.
Software Development Keyboard - No numeric keypad, but has assignable keys down the left like the original Northgate keyboards. Arrow keys are in inverted "T" pattern like God intended.
*nix Keyboard - Has no shift key (just kidding). Has the punctuation marks and numerics reversed on the keys along the top for easier shell script writing (must press Shift + $ to get a "4").
L33T 5p34k Keyboard - Looks remarkably like a cellphone, except the letters and numbers are randomly jumbled up.
Chip H.
I'd definately like that, but only if it came with an LCARS skin. Star Trek, here we come! Oh, and when the system crashes, the keyboard has to keep the buttons visible but make the backlight flicker. That would add the final touch of authenticity to it...
Every cloud has a silver lining (except for the mushroom shaped ones, which have a lining of Iridium & Strontium 90)
bwa ha ha ha... And the Trogdor comes in the NIIIIiiiiiIIIIIIiiiiiiIIIIGHT!!
tcpa SUX!!!!
just like a famous eject switch.. there better always be an eject button.. especially if I can trigger it remotely.. and it's attached to the other person's chair.. muahaha *evil laugh*
No, the final touch of authenticity would be having it explode in your face when you take damage in a game.
I never did figure out why the Enterprise's workstations were built of explosive material...
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
I just swapped a spare k/b over to dvorak... And hell does this make for slow typing.. But I'm getting a little faster.. Loving the A placement :)..
Rp C jrgse cp/. uaoyfpvvvZZZZ
I'd heard that the phone company actually put the numbers on 'upside down' because they were worried about people typing the numbers in to fast.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
... You do realize that you can disable those, right?
Voice regognition??
..."
"tab if Silent equals false left curly bracket newline tab tab printf left round bracket double quote percent sign s double quote comma space Output right round bracket semicolon newline tab right curly bracket space forward slash star space Output debug information space star forward slash newline newline
I think i'll stay with my keyboard thanks.
== Jez ==
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