cicko

joined 1 year ago
[–] cicko@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

OK, got the gist from the ReadMe. For two hands, I think focusing on the bottom and right is not the "right thing to do", so perhaps a different two-hand layout would be preferable to duplicating the single-hand layout.

[–] cicko@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Perhaps we could use the idea behind the two-hand layouts and have two identical 3x3 grids. However, this layout is having the last column squashed on my phone and is not that practical. I think we could remove the middle row to gain space. There are only 2 keys in the middle row that are actually useful. The third - backspace - is completely redundant as it appears three times on the screen. Reducing Space to 2 slots would also provide one extra slot.

[–] cicko@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@dessallines, what were your guiding principles in positioning the keys? I guess we could use the same, just adapted for the two hands.

[–] cicko@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

The data from Letter Frequency Analysis of Languages Using Latin Alpha, should provide some ideas as to which keys to have as touch-type (as opposed to swipe-type). However, Dvorak uses the most common keys as the middle row, so they should all be displayed. We need to define a new "middle row", I guess.

[–] cicko@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How do I pick the most-common letters from the middle row when those are the most common letters overall?

[–] cicko@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

In regards to the exact placement, I find it hard to combine the outright principles (optimizations) behind Dvorak and Thumb-Key, especially the two-thumb layout. They all have their issues they are trying to resolve.

I prefer the alternating keys to rolling-keys. Especially when typing on a screen. That makes Dvorak a better fit than other layouts.

Dvorak layout, when preparing for Thumb-Key, ends up being like this

[–] cicko@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

I'd be targeting Dvorak layout but the principles are the same for any layout to be applied to this frame.

[–] cicko@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

One possible way to place the space key:

This would be a good starting point if creating a new layout instead of adapting an existing one (like Dvorak).

Pros:

  • That would eliminate the need for the bottom row, which traditionally hosts the key.
  • special characters and options can be placed as swipe keys

Cons:

  • space is also needed for other special characters, which need to move to the main 3x3 grids
  • special characters can't be placed in the middle duo to symmetric even layout
  • the characters from the bottom row need to be jammed into the top two or elsewhere
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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by cicko@lemmy.ml to c/thumbkey@lemmy.ml
 

Hi!

I've (already) opened the issue on GitHub and that can/should be kept for the final technical specs.

https://github.com/dessalines/thumb-key/issues/602

I'd like to open the thread here to work out and discuss any details.

The layout would use the full width and is suited for two-hand typing:

Some of my immediate questions would be:

  • Does this fit the idea behind the ThumbKey app? It is for thumb typing, after all.
  • How to get a good layout? The hype is on AI but people have been doing this through trial and error for a while now.