[DUG] OT Mouse

[Jolyon Smith]

Ah, the old QWERTY was designed to slow us down urban myth raises it's head
again.  :)

A numeric keypad is a quite different proposition from an alpha-board.  On
a numeric pad the relative positions of keys is predominantly consistent
(1-2-3, 4-5-6, 7-8-9, 0 at the bottom) even if the particular order of the
groups may vary.

When there is a departure from this then it does become noticeable and
harder to adapt.  On my previous phone (Nokia X3 Touch 'n Type) the numeric
pad had the 0 appended to the bottom row of digits:

  1  2  3
  4  5  6
  7  8  9  0

Even this small change was a *constant* source of error and frustration - I
never got used to it.

Also, I wonder are there any phones which use a "keyboard number pad"
orientation for their digits (or keyboards that use a phone layout) ?

Or is that there are two orientations that are consistent with themselves -
i.e. all phones use one number pad and all keyboards use the other.  In
which case given the high degree of commonality (the relative key
positions) in each case, the minor adjustment for each device is easily
made with the device itself (keyboard vs phone) providing the cue that we
subconsciously need to make the adjustment (though again, beyond data entry
operators, how many of us even use the number pad extensively for number
entry at all ?).

+0.02


On 1 November 2011 17:53, John Bird <johnkbird at paradise.net.nz> wrote:

>   An interesting looking device – almost looks like it got left in the
> sun and melted.
>
> I notice its still QWERTY though.  Considering the QWERTY keyboard was
> originally designed to slow typists down by making common keys on the small
> fingers of the left hand for touch typists – is this a strain issue for any?
>
> Why are we still using QWERTY? – like anyone else I would get used to an
> alternative fast enough – the brain is pretty adaptable.
> Most of us probably do not even notice that a phone or mobile keyboard
> layout is upside down compared to a numeric keypad – we use both
> interchangeably for instance.
>
> John Bird
>
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