3 ms·

I love the idea. Reminds me that I've always wondered why nobody ever made a keyboard with analog joysticks for your thumbs. Feels like keyboard design has stag

by Sakos 4y ago

I love the idea. Reminds me that I've always wondered why nobody ever made a keyboard with analog joysticks for your thumbs. Feels like keyboard design has stagnated because they reached a local maxima for being good enough decades ago.

moffkalast 4y ago
That's not the reason at all, the typical modern keyboard is just about exclusively driven by legacy compatibility. The keys are still in the exact same layout that was dictated by the mechanical design of typewriters centuries ago for fucks sake. Does anything still use the "pause" button? Why would anyone ever want to lock the numpad? Why are like half of the keys duplicated? These are real questions we should be asking. The real problem is that people have gotten used to something that barely worked, who then got catered to by manufacturers which lead to new people learning that same layout, perpetuating the same design into infinity because nobody wants to relearn typing. Driving cars with a wheel and pedals probably isn't optimal either, but it's all anyone ever learns to use so that's what ubiquitous. Language is the same.
- dschil138 4y ago
  that's why it's so absolutely nuts that smartphone keyboards are just touchscreen versions of legacy keyboards. If there is any place absolutely ripe for new innovation and optimizations, it's there. But there are hardly any significantly-different options! (at least on iphone, can't speak to Android) Like, why can't I set my keyboard to delete the last word when I swipe left across the keyboard? There are a million low-hanging fruit things like that.
  - HALtheWise 4y ago
    At least on my Android Google keyboard, that exact feature exists (swiping left from the backspace key deletes words in a natural way). Similarly, swiping on the spacebar moves the cursor. More generally, swipe typing, aggressive autocorrect, and voice input are pretty novel and core to any modern phone keyboard. If you want to see really wild stuff, look at some of the Japanese phone keyboards, they're mostly based on slide gestures that can translate to a physical keyboard.
  - xigoi 4y ago
    Try out MessagEase. It's available for both Android and iOS. (Unfortunately it's proprietary, but at least completely free-as-in-beer.)
    - Sakos 4y ago
      Tried this briefly and it seems interesting. Any idea why it's free? That's a bit sketchy imo when it's not open source and there's no obvious way it's being monetized. I've seen that they sell Windows, Pocket PC and Palm versions, but that can't possibly sell enough copies to make it worth it? My first guess is they're using the free model to promote their technology and be able to license it to companies. Which would be fine, just wish it would be spelled out.
layer8 4y ago
> a keyboard with analog joysticks for your thumbs That’s what the IBM TrackPoint is, basically. And, to a lesser extent, trackpads. Only one per keyboard, though.
eggy 4y ago
Belkin made the Nostromo, which I had and used for AutoCAD. I sold it, and then I bought a Razer Nostromo later in 2013/14. They both had analog joysticks, or the plus-sign multi-switch on Nintendo devices. It had a thumbstick you could remove to use the plus-pad config.
- Sakos 4y ago
  I like the Nostromo and the follow-up versions and I have one of them. I just wish there was a full keyboard version of it and the joystick is a 4-way (8-way?) hat switch, not analog.

by Sakos 4y ago

moffkalast 4y ago

That's not the reason at all, the typical modern keyboard is just about exclusively driven by legacy compatibility. The keys are still in the exact same layout that was dictated by the mechanical design of typewriters centuries ago for fucks sake. Does anything still use the "pause" button? Why would anyone ever want to lock the numpad? Why are like half of the keys duplicated? These are real questions we should be asking. The real problem is that people have gotten used to something that barely worked, who then got catered to by manufacturers which lead to new people learning that same layout, perpetuating the same design into infinity because nobody wants to relearn typing. Driving cars with a wheel and pedals probably isn't optimal either, but it's all anyone ever learns to use so that's what ubiquitous. Language is the same.

dschil138 4y ago
that's why it's so absolutely nuts that smartphone keyboards are just touchscreen versions of legacy keyboards. If there is any place absolutely ripe for new innovation and optimizations, it's there. But there are hardly any significantly-different options! (at least on iphone, can't speak to Android) Like, why can't I set my keyboard to delete the last word when I swipe left across the keyboard? There are a million low-hanging fruit things like that.
- HALtheWise 4y ago
  At least on my Android Google keyboard, that exact feature exists (swiping left from the backspace key deletes words in a natural way). Similarly, swiping on the spacebar moves the cursor. More generally, swipe typing, aggressive autocorrect, and voice input are pretty novel and core to any modern phone keyboard. If you want to see really wild stuff, look at some of the Japanese phone keyboards, they're mostly based on slide gestures that can translate to a physical keyboard.
- xigoi 4y ago
  Try out MessagEase. It's available for both Android and iOS. (Unfortunately it's proprietary, but at least completely free-as-in-beer.)
  - Sakos 4y ago
    Tried this briefly and it seems interesting. Any idea why it's free? That's a bit sketchy imo when it's not open source and there's no obvious way it's being monetized. I've seen that they sell Windows, Pocket PC and Palm versions, but that can't possibly sell enough copies to make it worth it? My first guess is they're using the free model to promote their technology and be able to license it to companies. Which would be fine, just wish it would be spelled out.

layer8 4y ago

> a keyboard with analog joysticks for your thumbs That’s what the IBM TrackPoint is, basically. And, to a lesser extent, trackpads. Only one per keyboard, though.

eggy 4y ago

Belkin made the Nostromo, which I had and used for AutoCAD. I sold it, and then I bought a Razer Nostromo later in 2013/14. They both had analog joysticks, or the plus-sign multi-switch on Nintendo devices. It had a thumbstick you could remove to use the plus-pad config.

Sakos 4y ago
I like the Nostromo and the follow-up versions and I have one of them. I just wish there was a full keyboard version of it and the joystick is a 4-way (8-way?) hat switch, not analog.