Next Generation T9 Keyboard Technology 150
Iddo Genuth writes "Cliff Kushler, the inventor of the T9 keyboard technology for numeric keypads, has developed a new alphanumeric entry technology for touch-screen laptops and Smartphone devices. This latest technology, named Swype, works with an on-screen QWERTY keyboard similar to ones found on Windows Mobile and the iPhone. The difference from the usual method of typing in the letters is that a finger or stylus is used to slide in the first letter, then without lifting the finger, the user continues writing the entire word. Only once the word is completed can the finger be lifted off. According to the developers, this leads to a much faster way of 'typing,' or as we might call it soon, 'swiping.'"
Re:Dvorak? (Score:5, Insightful)
say what? Dvorak keyboards are great if you want to type in what amounts to two different languages, and it's designed to accommodate speed and efficiency for ten fingers, not one finger and two thumbs.
If you are going to break away from the standard qwerty keyboard, why not try to do something that makes sense for two thumbs and a finger? Understanding that you would have two circular areas for common keys, and best to have them arranged so that you get best efficiency switching between thumbs on alternating letters.
T9 is meant for touch tone keypads, this swipe is designed for efficiency on soft keyboards. If you want to maximize efficiency for thumbs, start all over again please.
Re:Dvorak? (Score:5, Insightful)
Having been in mixed Dvorak, Qwerty, and Abcdefg environments, and having been on a quest for the ultimate keyboard for the past 10 years, I'm pretty confident that Qwerty is *good enough* until something truly different comes along.
Dvorak *can* run a little faster than Qwerty for typing, but not so much that you'd see an appreciably speed increase for nomal use. And as Dvorak has been around for about 80 years now [earthlink.net], I don't think anyone is getting in on the wave of the future by using it. Similarly, you'd be surprised how hard it is to use an alphabetized keyboard after years of Qwerty or Dvorak usage. The brain just doesn't change over that easily.
Unless an alternative layout increased speeds 100% or so, I'd keep things accessible. Just use Qwerty, and move on.
Re:bleh (Score:3, Insightful)
First, I never use that T9 stuff, because it never chooses the right word. Guessing the word that you want to type isn't convenient, it's annoying. Also, it doesn't allow for purposefully misspelled words and text slang.
At least in good recent implementations it does usually choose the right word, because in addition to having generic word frequency data it learns the most common words you personally use. You can also add your own words to the dictionary, so you can use as many purposefully mispelled words and slang terms as you like. You can always drop out of T9 mode for unusual requirements.
I usually dislike people who don't use T9; they tend to be the idiots who write things like "l8r" (7 key-presses, assuming you can hold the key down to get the 8 and wait between letters) instead of "later" (5 key-presses with T9, entered as fast as you like). A good T9 implementation lets me compose messages with correct spelling and punctuation more rapidly and reliably and with less effort. Messages with correct grammar, spelling and punctuation can be read more reliably and rapidly by the recipients.
Re:Dvorak? (Score:3, Insightful)
Dvorak is designed for efficient touch typing. Virtual keyboards are inherently poor for touch typing (you can't feel which "keys" your fingers are hitting), and most are too small to even attempt it. If you could convince me there is a significant proportion of people who known Dvorak but can't even type one- or two-fingered on a QWERTY I might believe that there is a real need, but I suspect that group of users is vanishingly small.
Re:Dvorak? (Score:1, Insightful)
copywritten
ARGH! The inner Grammar Nazi within me screams in a bloodied rage.
copywriting [wikipedia.org] is completely different from copyrighting [wikipedia.org].