Keyboard design has not improved since 1981

[Tannin]

We have had the Advertising Keys. Er ... sorry, the "Windows Keys". And we have had the Gimmick Keyboard ... er sorry, the "Internet Keyboard". But what, actually, has been done to improve keyboad layouts in the last 20 years? Precisely nothing.

• Coug still can't get a simple, easy to use way to get his accents.
  
• Many of the most-used symbols, such as "$", "~", and "%" remain awkward shift-key propositions, and you still have to shift to get a double quote.
  
• I can't ever remember how to get the trademark or the copyright symbol because I am not up to the task of remembering that I have to press Control-shift-alt-numpad-177-left-foot-in-the-air

 

[Buck]

It's right-foot in the air.

For me, the keyboard layout is very natural, but that is because I was formally trained in typing and have become accustomed to its layout. The truth lies with those that have not been trained with our keyboard. When they see the hodge-podge of keys arbitrarily strewn about, they wonder who the dummy was that designed it. After you provide some lame excuse, they awkwardly type, and practice, type some more, and after a year, it becomes normal.

 

[blakerwry]

Actually, there has been improvements... not so much in the layout, but more with the materials and design


We no longer use metal springs in keyboards... those things were plain old TERRIBLE. Terrible feel, dozens of accidental key pressings, poor reliability, etc, etc, etc...

Atleast we don't have those around anymore... I have nightmares about the old packard hell keyboard that was given to me...


Now, I loved the IBM model M keyboard (the old heavy one.. not the later made light weight junk)... but they are hard to find around here.

But with that exception I think older keyboards weren't as reliable as what you can get today. You can also pick up a new keyboard for under $60 if you want. IMO that is a big improvement.

The Dell quietkey boards that I have used were reliable, had good feel, and felt pretty natural.. they are also available for about $10.

I also like how newer keybaords include volume controls. These things are great. They should have been included on keyboards since windows 3.1.

As for windows keys and internet buttons I could care less, but some people like them and use them. They don't bother me or get in my way so I really couldn't give a hoot one way or the other.

 

[e_dawg]

Multimedia keys are a useful improvement IMO. It may do nothing for typing efficiency, but it does much for computing pleasure. It's a real pain to have to bring up Winamp or mouse over to the tiny volume control on the task bar to pause/change tracks/raise/lower volume. Now you can hit several buttons on the top of your keyboard as if you had a remote control for the tele.

 

[Mercutio]

Some might argue that the ergonomic keyboard might represent an improvement. Not me, but someone.

I can actually remember all the ASCII alt-sequences for Germanic characters, since I had to type papers when I was taking German in college.

Other than that, I think that the biggest advance yet to be made would be standard placement of the backslash key.

 

[SteveC]

There's nothing better than the IBM Model M Keyboards. They have by far the best feel, and are indestructable. As far as the International characters, I do what LiamC said in the other thread. I use the ALT+Keypad combo. It's not too hard to remember the 8 that I need for Spanish:
ALT+0161 = ¡
ALT+0191 = ¿
ALT+0225 = á
ALT+0233 = é
ALT+0237 = í
ALT+0241 = ñ
ALT+0243 = ó
ALT+0250 = ú

Steve

 

[cas]

Insufficient customer pain is what a venture capitalist would say.

While better keyboard layouts have been developed, they have been largely ignored by the market. Like most people, I have found that the qwerty layout has become second nature; even accented characters flow unconsciously from my finger tips.

I guess when something is "good enough", it's hard to market something that is marginally better. I suspect that broom technology reached it's apex a few thousand years ago.

Blake,
While rubber domes are used in most keyboards, the IBM model M used their patented buckling metal spring. The buckling spring keyboards manufactured by Unicomp today, last longer than rubber domes, even if they are more expensive.

 

[cas]

When I set my kb layout to EN, this combo doesn't work.

You want "United States-International" not "US". They both show up as EN in the system notification area.

Legal, não é?

Huh?

This translates roughly to "Cool, eh?"
We don't really use accented characters in English.

 

[Buck]

Some might argue that the ergonomic keyboard might represent an improvement. Not me, but someone.

That would be me. Once I started on an ergonomic keyboard, I have not wanted to go back. When I'm obligated to use a standard keyboard, my hands feel like they're in the way of each other and I'm prone to make more mistakes then usual.

 

[Cliptin]

Some might argue that the ergonomic keyboard might represent an improvement. Not me, but someone.

That would be me. Once I started on an ergonomic keyboard, I have not wanted to go back. When I'm obligated to use a standard keyboard, my hands feel like they're in the way of each other and I'm prone to make more mistakes then usual.

I am also in this camp. Once I switched I found it difficult to use. Eventually my typing speed surpassed the speed available from the standard keyboard and slight pains in the wrist disappeared. At that point it became difficult to type on a standard keyboard; taking a few minutes to type productively each time.

Now, since I use one of each all day, I am used to both.

 

[Buck]

Just as a side note, typewriter design has greatly improved. The IBM Electronic Typewrite Model 95 took a huge leap forward with the Wheelwriter and then the Wheelwriter II series.

 

[Fushigi]

IBM Model M all the way for me. I'm using one now.

When a former employer was dumping a bunch of 386 PS/2s, I nabbed about a 1/2 dozen of the keyboards for my personal use.

I use one externally on my laptop at work (right now) and have them on both my PC and my wife's PC at home. I've also supplied a couple to family who have worn out newer, lower quality keyboards.

These are indestructable. I think the keyboard weighs more than my entire laptop and I know that it has a metal plate running the length inside the casing. While I can flex the keyboard without too much trouble, it never feels like it's in danger of breaking.

My big fear is that there will be a wholesale move to USB keyboards on future mobos and I won't be able to get adapters. Beyond that concern, I am confident I'll be using the same keyboard for the next 20 years.

1-touch access buttons are mostly a waste. That said, I do like Windows-L in XP to lock the desktop. Windows has long needed the ability to lock the system quickly.

- Fushigi

 

[Will Rickards WT]

There was a really neat new keyboard design I saw recently...
http://www.fingerworks.com/
Here is a pic:

 

[Tannin]

Interesting comments, gentlemen, but in the main off-topic. (Perhaps I neglected to set out what I had in mind clearly - I was at work and feeling hurried.)

My issue is not with keyboard gross layout (ergo, straight, banana-shaped, whatever), nor with the niceties of keyswitches and feel. It's not even with the traditional qwerty layout of the main alpha keys (though there is lots of room to dispute that too). I had intended this topic to take up the matter of the layout of the "minor" keys; for example, the brain-dead numlock/shiftlock arrangements inflicted on us just because IBM did it that way in 1981 (though I note that in Windows 2000, Microsoft, to their credit, have given us the option to much improve the shiftlock arrangement).

My favourite text editor, Edit Plus, has a wonderful little setting that lets you disable the insert/overtype function. Until you are freed of the tyranny of the insert key, you just don't realise what a horrible arrangement it is. Literally, it would be countless hundreds of times that I have accidently hit the insert key while making a post here or at SR (not to mention while doing any of a dozen other things) and typed over the top of a sentence or two without realising what had happened. Why is this appalling arrangement tolerated?

Why are so many of the often-used minor keys (I gave some examples above) placed in such dificult locations? Why do we still not have all the basics of good grammer available without resorting to arcane multiple key combinations? Even the dash is missing from the standard English-US keyboard layout, and substituting two spaces and a minus sign is an ugly, sloppy way to fill in for it, which results in a decrease in readability.

Insufficient customer pain factor? Yes, Cas, I'm afraid you are right.

 

[NRG = mc²]

countless hundreds of times that I have accidently hit the insert key while making a post here or at SR

Same here, I used to have a program that beeped every time you hit INS but God knows where that's gone.

 

[e_dawg]

Laptops are even worse. The Insert key is usually jammed right above the Backspace key or right next to one of the arrow keys. If I had a nickel for every time I hit the Insert key while pressing Backspace...

Besides, who actually uses the Overwrite style of text input anyways? I would venture the vast majority of us do not like that feature anyways.

 

[Handruin]

Laptops are even worse. The Insert key is usually jammed right above the Backspace key or right next to one of the arrow keys. If I had a nickel for every time I hit the Insert key while pressing Backspace...

Besides, who actually uses the Overwrite style of text input anyways? I would venture the vast majority of us do not like that feature anyways.

I should pluck the key out. I don't think I've ever used it. shift + end + del works faster then overwrite...