No more qwerty keyboards?

AlienGav

Hey everyone,

just read that there's a new standard comming out in keyboards!

http://www.tech-blog.org/story-2786.html

Fuppin' crazy ay?! only 50-odd keys, our fingers shall be in heaven! lol
Can anyone see themselves changing to this new type?

Or better the devil ya know, than the devil ya don't?

skywalker

qwerty keyboards are seriously antiquated (sp?) as the article mentions it was designed to be as inefficient as possible to stop typewriters jamming, its amazing its lasted as long as it has tbh, surprised dell or M$ or someone hasnt brought out a better one and copyrighted it.

the only reservation id have about this new layout is its alphabetical, id imagine theres surely a better way of laying out the keys, with the most used in the most accesible, people will adapt quickly no matter what the layout is so its more important to have the most efficient layout.

also 53 keys? wtf? people want more keys not 1/2 less. if recent keyboards are anything to go by.

plus the fact it looks like a childs toy.

gaui3d0pnbz86o

i agree, 53 is too few. we all use shortcuts(in games and programs) and so many shortcuts, in open office or M$ office if you prefer for example nearly use every key we have now! what will happen to shortcuts that that use keys that may no longer exist?

although the qwerty and the 103 key (or more keyboard)design is old, it is practicle and works.

koneko

Fugliest keyboard ever, in any case. QWERTY design might have been inefficient, but I type at a speed now where it hardly matters anymore to me.

Shane™

I thought the qwerty keyboard was designed for English

This keyboard will not change anythink, it's going backwards if you ask me

There is still room for improvement, but then I'm used to this layout, and so are millions of employees around the would, and if business doesn't go for it, I don't think it will catch on.

kdouglas

it looks like the stereotypical keyboard you'd find on one of those childs v-tech "computers" or the like and as skywalker said there must be a better way of laying out the keys than alphabetically, anyone that is accustomed to a qwerty keyboard will feel quite comfortable with its use and will not want to change to an alphabetical layout.

Johnny Storm

There used to be something called a "speedwriter" AFAICR. This only had FIVE keys.
Basically you kept the five fingers of one hand on the five keys (which were ergonomically laid out, natch) and "typed" by pressing combinations of keys.
EG press forefinger for "a". press forefinger and index finger for "b" etc.

Since you never had to move your fingers from the keys at all you could type at incredible speed. It was far smaller than a keyboards and would have been great for mobile devices.

Shane™

Johnny Storm wrote:

There used to be something called a "speedwriter" AFAICR.

I like the sound of this, how long ago did you see this? Ever use it yourself?

Would it not get sore though? I mean the load is concentrated on one hand.

pickarooney

Johnny Storm wrote:

There used to be something called a "speedwriter" AFAICR. This only had FIVE keys.
Basically you kept the five fingers of one hand on the five keys (which were ergonomically laid out, natch) and "typed" by pressing combinations of keys.
EG press forefinger for "a". press forefinger and index finger for "b" etc.

Since you never had to move your fingers from the keys at all you could type at incredible speed. It was far smaller than a keyboards and would have been great for mobile devices.

Sounds a bit like a stenograph machine.

skywalker

Shane&#8482 wrote:

There is still room for improvement, but then I'm used to this layout, and so are millions of employees around the would, and if business doesn't go for it, I don't think it will catch on.

thats precisely the reason were still using qwerty keyboards. 130 years old. can you imagine ANYTHING else in the world of computing lasting that long? it needs to be replaced, but the design that comes in needs to have more thought put into it than it looks like this design has.

mr_angry

This isn't the first time they've tried to replace the qwerty and azerty keyboards. After all, advances in typewriters themselves eliminated the need for jam avoidance over a century ago. However, the qwerty keyboard is the perfect example of a lock-in technology, and unless Microsoft, IBM, HP Compaq, Intel, Packard Bell, Dell, Gateway, and every other manufacturer under the sun decided to change simultaneously, it'll never happen. It'd have to be like the change to metric roadsigns.

Clinical Waste

Fugly and v-techy alright, but maybe alphabetical is a step in the right direction? We all use alphabetical layout when texting and its pretty easy and quick.

Lump

QWERTY Keyboards might be inefficient, but after 14-odd years of using it, I'm sure it won't be efficient to change to this new "Kids" Keyboard.


John

Peteee

No way we'll ever change. It's far too ingrained now.

If you found this on slashdot then they were saying that any placement of keys will, after practise, result in the same no. of WPM typed. Wether it be DVORAK or QWERTY.

I believe in spain and france they have a slightly different layout, something like AWERTY and spain might have that a with the squiggly thing on top

ViperVenoM

i know Qwertys...past and know what it was for...but please weve been using it so long now..who would want to learn it all over again!!!!

that "thing" looks like something from toys r us :eek:

jaaaysus Qwerty all the way!

neokenzo

That thing looks like something you'll buy in Toys'R'Us :P
I'd still use the qwerty keyboard and the more keys it has, the better

Blub2k4

Johnny Storm wrote:

There used to be something called a "speedwriter" AFAICR. This only had FIVE keys.
Basically you kept the five fingers of one hand on the five keys (which were ergonomically laid out, natch) and "typed" by pressing combinations of keys.
EG press forefinger for "a". press forefinger and index finger for "b" etc.

Since you never had to move your fingers from the keys at all you could type at incredible speed. It was far smaller than a keyboards and would have been great for mobile devices.

It was the "Quinkey" Microwriter and it was mainly available on the BBC.

http://www.csdm.qc.ca/pec/codes/microwriter.html

Lump

Blub2k4 wrote:

It was the "Quinkey" Microwriter and it was mainly available on the BBC.

Ah the old BBC.... our First "computer"

John

Johnny Storm

Blub2k4 wrote:

It was the "Quinkey" Microwriter and it was mainly available on the BBC.

http://www.csdm.qc.ca/pec/codes/microwriter.html

That's right.

I was in the middle of doing a long post on this yesterday when boards.ie fell over. Here's the edited highlights:

The Microwriter IMHO was a fantasic idea that never got the mass acceptance it deserved.

The current version for PC is called the CyKey and is available from http://www.cykey.co.uk/

Needless to say I havent got one !

Scroll down this page http://www.gifford.co.uk/~coredump/org.htm to see the AgendA - an old organiser which included a Microwiter keypad and below that another pic of an original Microwriter

Shane™

Johnny Storm wrote:

The current version for PC is called the CyKey

Wow that's very good but I don't think it's worth £89 what's that €135?

If this was sold for like €10, I reckon it could be the start of the end for QWERTY, not very likely tough, is it?

Johnny Storm

Shane&#8482 wrote:

Wow that's very good but I don't think it's worth £89 what's that €135?

If this was sold for like €10, I reckon it could be the start of the end for QWERTY, not very likely tough, is it?

It's only money...

Personally, I'm holding out for voice recognition - BWAAAHAHAHAHA

Capt'n Midnight

QWERTY is ineficient - but not as bad a people are lead to believe. In order to prevent jamming the main trick used was to seperate the letters so that most of the time alternate fingers are used. This has the result that while one hand is pressing a key the other can be moving the finger to position.

NotMe

No one has pointed out yet that the article is about a keyboard created by the company "New Standard Keyboards", it's not about a new standard in keyboards like the original poster said. :rolleyes:

Creamy Goodness

lol as long as it has wasd and space bar i'm happy

Goodshape

Aparently the story of QWERTY being designed to be ineffecient (in an attempt to stop typewriters jamming) is complete bollox. Made up in the 1930's by the team that made the DVORAK keyboard.

The Slashdot article has more about it (in the comments).