6 ms·

Tipy – One Hand Keyboard

94 points by pseingatl 5y ago

traceroute66 5y ago
These one handed keyboards come and go like the seasons but they never catch on. FrogPad[1] was another example from recent history. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FrogPad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FrogPad
pseingatl 5y ago
Someone lost their arm and in rehab was taught how to use a one-handed keyboard, made by this company. I wonder what kind of speeds can be reached.
lucb1e 5y ago
Looks like the combined up/down arrow key is here to stay :/ though this is at least one product where I can actually see the logic, even if I don't like it.
goosedragons 5y ago
It's a rather unusual layout. Matias makes an even more expensive one handed keyboard that's essentially half a keyboard and then holding space lets you type the other half. I'm not sure why it's still so damn expensive.
- rzzzt 5y ago
  Randall Munroe has a write-up on a mirrored layout where Caps Lock is the modifier key for the right half: https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/08/14/mirrorboard-a-one-handed-keyboard-layout-for-the-lazy/ https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/08/14/mirrorboard-a-one-handed-ke...
  - TinyBig 5y ago
    This is a really good approach if you can already touch-type. I found I was able to type one handed immediately though it took some thinking and it became second nature after a few weeks. The ease of adapting a regular keyboard to one handed typing makes it very hard for me to wrap my head around learning a completely new layout.
  - mitchs 5y ago
    I don't like the idea of using caps lock frequently as a modifier. To me a frequently used modifier should either be on a thumb or on the opposite hand. I recently started trying to learn a one handed layout to give my injured right wrist some rest and have been reasonably happy with the space bar doing double duty. (Tap is space and hold is flip.) Though this isn't something that most keyboards can be configured to do. So far I'd say the flip style is OKish to learn, but I'm still at a tiny fraction of my normal speed. It will take a lot of dedicated practice for me to be anywhere near as fast.
jitl 5y ago
This is a very cool tool - another case of disability features benefitting everyone. I would probably consider it seriously if it was available 5 years ago; I wish more keyboards also had mice sticks. These days I start feeling hand strain quickly on flat keyboards, even with a lot of stretching, and need to run home to my Kenisis Advantage. As an aside, doesn’t sound like Bluetooth work well with Mac: > TiPY is not automatically connected to my Apple MAC or MAC Books after I switch it off and on again? > With a connected USB C cable, TiPY is always recognized. > Third-party keyboards only connected to Bluetooth are never recognized by Apple after being switched off and must be reconnected.
- throwawayboise 5y ago
  > another case of disability features benefitting everyone What do you see as the benefit for a two-handed person using a computer in a normal desk job? Honest question, it's just not clear to me.
  - SamoyedFurFluff 5y ago
    I mean… I think it’s pretty obvious that being one handed is a disability in that it makes a wide variety of things harder. I could think of a bunch of things that would be much harder or more inefficient one handed… using my mouse and my keyboard at the same time for example. Or that typing itself gets more tiring with one hand to me. I mean I even still use two thumbs to text! Have you tried going one handed for a while, maybe due to an injury or something?
    - ARandomerDude 5y ago
      Parent was asking why a person with 2 hands would want to use a 1-handed keyboard.
      - SamoyedFurFluff 5y ago
        If I can do all my things with one handed keyboard while sipping coffee, doodling, writing, eating…
nigerian1981 5y ago
Nice demonstration of the features [1] [1] https://youtu.be/sTNwPWHjaLk https://youtu.be/sTNwPWHjaLk
CarVac 5y ago
I tried one-handed layouts at one point out of curiosity and I found my one-handed typing speed on a normal QWERTY keyboard to be better.
politelemon 5y ago
What an interesting concept. If this proves itself and takes off, I wonder if there could be a version of this with mechanical keys. There's a video here showing someone typing using this keyboard. It feels a bit slow? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q4OEKKMPH48 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q4OEKKMPH48
- telesilla 5y ago
  Looks like the person is training in that video. I'd assume after some period of time, you could type as fast as on the regular two hander.
- JohnTHaller 5y ago
  I think it would need to be a very low-profile low-weight mechanical key switch and cap combo for it to feasible in this setup. Scissor switches seem more ideal for this sort of thing layout-wise. And I'm typing this from my GMMK with Glorious Panda switches and thicker XDA profile PBT keycaps.
yhoneycomb 5y ago
This product is uniquely appealing to me because as a kid, I actually used to type almost completely with one hand at 40 wpm using my right hand solely for the backspace, enter, shift, and space keys. The only reason I stopped and learned how to use both hands to type was that my left hand started getting arthritis-like symptoms as a 10th grader. Unfortunately, my hand hurts just looking at the example in the promotional video I found. I don't see how you could hold your hand up at that angle like that and not end up straining it. However, I'd love to be wrong.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
aktuel 5y ago
sandworm101 5y ago
I new a guy in school with only one hand. He used the same keyboard at home as everyone else. Like most of us, he had taught himself to type as a kid and felt no need for special adaptations. Just like 99% of two-handed people, he would not want to invest the time re-learning how to type for a bespoke keyboard layout that won't always be available.
- antifa 5y ago
  I actually got pretty proficient at typing on a standard keyboard with one hand. It really spoked my keyboard teacher in middle school. It was mostly about keeping my other hand on the mouse for video games. I didn't find this device appealing.
- crazyjustin 4y ago
rco8786 5y ago
3 (at least?) product “demo” videos and not a single shot or image of someone actually using it.
- bsima 5y ago
  Here are two videos: - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9Smm_od1hHU https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9Smm_od1hHU - https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=q4OEKKMPH48 https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=q4OEKKMPH48
powerbroker 5y ago
I did some patent research on alternative keyboards about 30 years ago. Frankly, even then, there was an unusual density of innovation in this technology. To be clear, there was about 5X more variants on the keyboard than I would have expected prior to my deep research. As a former patent attorney, working in various industries, a good rule of thumb is that only 1 in 3 inventions ever get implemented commercially. Back in the 1990's, in the keyboard field, it was about 1 in 10. The chief problem with keyboard innovations, even ones that are demonstrably more efficient, is that its a little like asking people to reverse driving on the right-hand-side (here in N. America), and go to left-side-of-the-road driving. You have to break a lot of ingrained 'finger memory' -- and, to some extent, be sure that your peers are doing the same. I think, then, for that reason, such keyboards never amounted, as a whole, to be more than 1-2% of the entire market. Literally, 100 different keyboards (than QWERTTY) are outsold, by a factor of 100X by QWERTY
- thomastjeffery 5y ago
  The compounding factor of that problem is that in order to get a more novel design, you have to spend anywhere from $60 to $500 or more, and potentially do your own assembly and soldering. That means the only people who are getting novel designs to use are those who can both afford one in the first place, and are motivated enough to spend roughly 10-200 times the usual keyboard cost. This is especially prohibitive for children, who are the group most likely to accommodate the learning curve of a novel design.
- touggourt 5y ago
  > You have to break a lot of ingrained 'finger memory' That seems obvious but it's not true: Your brain can easily learn different habits. For example, look at musicians playing and switching on various similar music instruments (between keyboards, different guitars like banjos or bass, kalimba (Thumb-Pianos) with 8 or 12 keys and different tuning, etc.). Don't forget also that you can learn something fast when it gives you a quick benefit. For example, learning the french alternative keyboard layout "Bépo", takes only 2 or 3 weeks, because after one or two hours of exercises you are already typing frequent words easier and faster. I learned at the same time, the ergonomic Typematrix keyboard, and frankly the ergonomic part of the layout was easy to learn. Of course I didn't forget the other layouts, and I can type on classical Azerty or Qwerty keyboards without much thinking. Human brain plasticity is very high.
smoldesu 5y ago
Looks neat, but why does it need to have a keyboard on two sides? They could probably sell it for a lot less if they simply sold a left-handed and right-handed model separately...
johnqian 5y ago
Is this product strictly for people missing a hand? I can’t see any other market. Sure it looks and feels cooler to type with one hand, but that is not nearly enough benefit to cut your typing speed in half.
- brudgers 5y ago
  It seems like a good control surface. For example in an electronic music context.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- feifan 5y ago
  I could see myself using this in Lightroom where most features can be triggered by a keyboard shortcut but then manipulated (i.e. dragging sliders) with the mouse. It would be faster to have one hand on a full keyboard and the other on my mouse, rather than moving my mouse hand back and forth or using the mouse to invoke all the features.
- throw10920 5y ago
  I, personally, would find this useful for doing work with a photo editor, 3D modelling tool, or some other program where I would otherwise be rapidly switching between keyboard and mouse. In terms of raw typing speed, I don't think that it can ever come close to the performance of someone using a machine-optimized keyboard layout with two hands, but I very much like the idea of not needing my right hand to dance back and forth between the mouse and the right side of my keyboard.
thomastjeffery 5y ago
It's really tricky to find an audience of people willing to spend a lot of money and spend the time to relearn typing. By going for a one-handed design, you constrain your audience even farther. This problem is then exasperated by the thriving community of keyboard design enthusiasts that have recently had a huge burst of productivity, thanks to cheap accessible 3D printing. I wish this company the best of luck. They have a step hill ahead of them. Even so, I'm always excited to see new companies expanding the keyboard market. The more novel designs that exist generally, the more likely it is that we can overcome the hurdle that is status quo.
- Etheryte 5y ago
  I would say that the thriving of the (mechanical) keyboard community is exactly a counterexample of the problem you pose. There's clearly a sizeable and well funded market segment for all kinds of keyboards, both traditional and unorthodox.
  - schwap 5y ago
    Even in the custom keyboard community the vast, vast majority don't require relearning typing. Whether it's 60%, 75%, split, ortholinear, typing is still basically the same.
    - thomastjeffery 5y ago
      Ortholinear definitely takes a non-trivial amount of practice that a lot of people aren't willing to do. So do layers. The overwhelming majority of people I have talked to aren't interested in using a non-standard keyboard design, even if they are interested in the ergonomic benefits. There are definitely a lot of us who want more esoteric designs, but we are a relative minority.
wellthisisgreat 5y ago
I am, in fact, slowly progressing towards this concept on my own with a split keyboard (Quefrency / Sinc). I am doing it so I don't have to move the right hand off the mouse, or put the coffee cup down or just feel like supporting my chin with the right hand while I am reading. What I did so far that helped with productivity was: 1. Map the Capslock to activate 2nd layer when held. On the second layer then: 2. Use the 1-6 number buttons on the second layer so I can type in all 0-9 numbers with just one hand 3. Map the QWSADE (along with HIJKL which is at this point a given) to arrows and PgUp/Down/Backspace 4. Map Z to Enter/Return (So Capslock + Z) is Enter/Return. I was toying with an idea to map the right side letters to the left side, but that learning that may be more trouble than it's worth. If I need to type more than 1 word it's usually worth using both hands. On a separate note I am continuously surprised there isn't enough advancement yet by means of AI to make a rock-solid autocorrect for typos.
infinity_user 5y ago
I love the idea and product. I would have bought one.... BUT then I saw the price... 350 EUR???? WTF ???? Excluding VAT and shipping ?? Who the fuck would want to fork 500 EUR for a damn keyboard ? What size is the market at that price ? This is ridiculous. Is there any cheaper alternative to this ? No fucking way that I spend that much cash for an unproven keyboard
- salamandersauce 5y ago
  Welcome to the world of ergo niche keyboards. Basically everything that isn't a Microsoft Ergo or clone is $200+ and it only gets more expensive as you get further from that. An alternative to this is building one yourself.

94 points by pseingatl 5y ago

These one handed keyboards come and go like the seasons but they never catch on. FrogPad[1] was another example from recent history. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FrogPad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FrogPad

pseingatl 5y ago

Someone lost their arm and in rehab was taught how to use a one-handed keyboard, made by this company. I wonder what kind of speeds can be reached.

lucb1e 5y ago

Looks like the combined up/down arrow key is here to stay :/ though this is at least one product where I can actually see the logic, even if I don't like it.

goosedragons 5y ago

It's a rather unusual layout. Matias makes an even more expensive one handed keyboard that's essentially half a keyboard and then holding space lets you type the other half. I'm not sure why it's still so damn expensive.

rzzzt 5y ago
Randall Munroe has a write-up on a mirrored layout where Caps Lock is the modifier key for the right half: https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/08/14/mirrorboard-a-one-handed-keyboard-layout-for-the-lazy/ https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/08/14/mirrorboard-a-one-handed-ke...
- TinyBig 5y ago
  This is a really good approach if you can already touch-type. I found I was able to type one handed immediately though it took some thinking and it became second nature after a few weeks. The ease of adapting a regular keyboard to one handed typing makes it very hard for me to wrap my head around learning a completely new layout.
- mitchs 5y ago
  I don't like the idea of using caps lock frequently as a modifier. To me a frequently used modifier should either be on a thumb or on the opposite hand. I recently started trying to learn a one handed layout to give my injured right wrist some rest and have been reasonably happy with the space bar doing double duty. (Tap is space and hold is flip.) Though this isn't something that most keyboards can be configured to do. So far I'd say the flip style is OKish to learn, but I'm still at a tiny fraction of my normal speed. It will take a lot of dedicated practice for me to be anywhere near as fast.

jitl 5y ago

This is a very cool tool - another case of disability features benefitting everyone. I would probably consider it seriously if it was available 5 years ago; I wish more keyboards also had mice sticks. These days I start feeling hand strain quickly on flat keyboards, even with a lot of stretching, and need to run home to my Kenisis Advantage. As an aside, doesn’t sound like Bluetooth work well with Mac: > TiPY is not automatically connected to my Apple MAC or MAC Books after I switch it off and on again? > With a connected USB C cable, TiPY is always recognized. > Third-party keyboards only connected to Bluetooth are never recognized by Apple after being switched off and must be reconnected.

throwawayboise 5y ago
> another case of disability features benefitting everyone What do you see as the benefit for a two-handed person using a computer in a normal desk job? Honest question, it's just not clear to me.
- SamoyedFurFluff 5y ago
  I mean… I think it’s pretty obvious that being one handed is a disability in that it makes a wide variety of things harder. I could think of a bunch of things that would be much harder or more inefficient one handed… using my mouse and my keyboard at the same time for example. Or that typing itself gets more tiring with one hand to me. I mean I even still use two thumbs to text! Have you tried going one handed for a while, maybe due to an injury or something?
  - ARandomerDude 5y ago
    Parent was asking why a person with 2 hands would want to use a 1-handed keyboard.
    - SamoyedFurFluff 5y ago
      If I can do all my things with one handed keyboard while sipping coffee, doodling, writing, eating…

nigerian1981 5y ago

Nice demonstration of the features [1] [1] https://youtu.be/sTNwPWHjaLk https://youtu.be/sTNwPWHjaLk

CarVac 5y ago

I tried one-handed layouts at one point out of curiosity and I found my one-handed typing speed on a normal QWERTY keyboard to be better.

politelemon 5y ago

What an interesting concept. If this proves itself and takes off, I wonder if there could be a version of this with mechanical keys. There's a video here showing someone typing using this keyboard. It feels a bit slow? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q4OEKKMPH48 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q4OEKKMPH48

telesilla 5y ago
Looks like the person is training in that video. I'd assume after some period of time, you could type as fast as on the regular two hander.
JohnTHaller 5y ago
I think it would need to be a very low-profile low-weight mechanical key switch and cap combo for it to feasible in this setup. Scissor switches seem more ideal for this sort of thing layout-wise. And I'm typing this from my GMMK with Glorious Panda switches and thicker XDA profile PBT keycaps.

yhoneycomb 5y ago

This product is uniquely appealing to me because as a kid, I actually used to type almost completely with one hand at 40 wpm using my right hand solely for the backspace, enter, shift, and space keys. The only reason I stopped and learned how to use both hands to type was that my left hand started getting arthritis-like symptoms as a 10th grader. Unfortunately, my hand hurts just looking at the example in the promotional video I found. I don't see how you could hold your hand up at that angle like that and not end up straining it. However, I'd love to be wrong.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

aktuel 5y ago

sandworm101 5y ago

I new a guy in school with only one hand. He used the same keyboard at home as everyone else. Like most of us, he had taught himself to type as a kid and felt no need for special adaptations. Just like 99% of two-handed people, he would not want to invest the time re-learning how to type for a bespoke keyboard layout that won't always be available.

antifa 5y ago
I actually got pretty proficient at typing on a standard keyboard with one hand. It really spoked my keyboard teacher in middle school. It was mostly about keeping my other hand on the mouse for video games. I didn't find this device appealing.
crazyjustin 4y ago

rco8786 5y ago

3 (at least?) product “demo” videos and not a single shot or image of someone actually using it.

bsima 5y ago
Here are two videos: - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9Smm_od1hHU https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9Smm_od1hHU - https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=q4OEKKMPH48 https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=q4OEKKMPH48

powerbroker 5y ago

I did some patent research on alternative keyboards about 30 years ago. Frankly, even then, there was an unusual density of innovation in this technology. To be clear, there was about 5X more variants on the keyboard than I would have expected prior to my deep research. As a former patent attorney, working in various industries, a good rule of thumb is that only 1 in 3 inventions ever get implemented commercially. Back in the 1990's, in the keyboard field, it was about 1 in 10. The chief problem with keyboard innovations, even ones that are demonstrably more efficient, is that its a little like asking people to reverse driving on the right-hand-side (here in N. America), and go to left-side-of-the-road driving. You have to break a lot of ingrained 'finger memory' -- and, to some extent, be sure that your peers are doing the same. I think, then, for that reason, such keyboards never amounted, as a whole, to be more than 1-2% of the entire market. Literally, 100 different keyboards (than QWERTTY) are outsold, by a factor of 100X by QWERTY

thomastjeffery 5y ago
The compounding factor of that problem is that in order to get a more novel design, you have to spend anywhere from $60 to $500 or more, and potentially do your own assembly and soldering. That means the only people who are getting novel designs to use are those who can both afford one in the first place, and are motivated enough to spend roughly 10-200 times the usual keyboard cost. This is especially prohibitive for children, who are the group most likely to accommodate the learning curve of a novel design.
touggourt 5y ago
> You have to break a lot of ingrained 'finger memory' That seems obvious but it's not true: Your brain can easily learn different habits. For example, look at musicians playing and switching on various similar music instruments (between keyboards, different guitars like banjos or bass, kalimba (Thumb-Pianos) with 8 or 12 keys and different tuning, etc.). Don't forget also that you can learn something fast when it gives you a quick benefit. For example, learning the french alternative keyboard layout "Bépo", takes only 2 or 3 weeks, because after one or two hours of exercises you are already typing frequent words easier and faster. I learned at the same time, the ergonomic Typematrix keyboard, and frankly the ergonomic part of the layout was easy to learn. Of course I didn't forget the other layouts, and I can type on classical Azerty or Qwerty keyboards without much thinking. Human brain plasticity is very high.

smoldesu 5y ago

Looks neat, but why does it need to have a keyboard on two sides? They could probably sell it for a lot less if they simply sold a left-handed and right-handed model separately...

johnqian 5y ago

Is this product strictly for people missing a hand? I can’t see any other market. Sure it looks and feels cooler to type with one hand, but that is not nearly enough benefit to cut your typing speed in half.

brudgers 5y ago
It seems like a good control surface. For example in an electronic music context.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
feifan 5y ago
I could see myself using this in Lightroom where most features can be triggered by a keyboard shortcut but then manipulated (i.e. dragging sliders) with the mouse. It would be faster to have one hand on a full keyboard and the other on my mouse, rather than moving my mouse hand back and forth or using the mouse to invoke all the features.
throw10920 5y ago
I, personally, would find this useful for doing work with a photo editor, 3D modelling tool, or some other program where I would otherwise be rapidly switching between keyboard and mouse. In terms of raw typing speed, I don't think that it can ever come close to the performance of someone using a machine-optimized keyboard layout with two hands, but I very much like the idea of not needing my right hand to dance back and forth between the mouse and the right side of my keyboard.

thomastjeffery 5y ago

It's really tricky to find an audience of people willing to spend a lot of money and spend the time to relearn typing. By going for a one-handed design, you constrain your audience even farther. This problem is then exasperated by the thriving community of keyboard design enthusiasts that have recently had a huge burst of productivity, thanks to cheap accessible 3D printing. I wish this company the best of luck. They have a step hill ahead of them. Even so, I'm always excited to see new companies expanding the keyboard market. The more novel designs that exist generally, the more likely it is that we can overcome the hurdle that is status quo.

Etheryte 5y ago
I would say that the thriving of the (mechanical) keyboard community is exactly a counterexample of the problem you pose. There's clearly a sizeable and well funded market segment for all kinds of keyboards, both traditional and unorthodox.
- schwap 5y ago
  Even in the custom keyboard community the vast, vast majority don't require relearning typing. Whether it's 60%, 75%, split, ortholinear, typing is still basically the same.
  - thomastjeffery 5y ago
    Ortholinear definitely takes a non-trivial amount of practice that a lot of people aren't willing to do. So do layers. The overwhelming majority of people I have talked to aren't interested in using a non-standard keyboard design, even if they are interested in the ergonomic benefits. There are definitely a lot of us who want more esoteric designs, but we are a relative minority.

wellthisisgreat 5y ago

I am, in fact, slowly progressing towards this concept on my own with a split keyboard (Quefrency / Sinc). I am doing it so I don't have to move the right hand off the mouse, or put the coffee cup down or just feel like supporting my chin with the right hand while I am reading. What I did so far that helped with productivity was: 1. Map the Capslock to activate 2nd layer when held. On the second layer then: 2. Use the 1-6 number buttons on the second layer so I can type in all 0-9 numbers with just one hand 3. Map the QWSADE (along with HIJKL which is at this point a given) to arrows and PgUp/Down/Backspace 4. Map Z to Enter/Return (So Capslock + Z) is Enter/Return. I was toying with an idea to map the right side letters to the left side, but that learning that may be more trouble than it's worth. If I need to type more than 1 word it's usually worth using both hands. On a separate note I am continuously surprised there isn't enough advancement yet by means of AI to make a rock-solid autocorrect for typos.

infinity_user 5y ago

I love the idea and product. I would have bought one.... BUT then I saw the price... 350 EUR???? WTF ???? Excluding VAT and shipping ?? Who the fuck would want to fork 500 EUR for a damn keyboard ? What size is the market at that price ? This is ridiculous. Is there any cheaper alternative to this ? No fucking way that I spend that much cash for an unproven keyboard

salamandersauce 5y ago
Welcome to the world of ergo niche keyboards. Basically everything that isn't a Microsoft Ergo or clone is $200+ and it only gets more expensive as you get further from that. An alternative to this is building one yourself.