4 ms·

Has anybody used this, and can comment on how well the "type while holding the Alt (or capslock) key" works? I imagine it's a bit hard to type with both hands w

Has anybody used this, and can comment on how well the "type while holding the Alt (or capslock) key" works? I imagine it's a bit hard to type with both hands while holding down a key.

user24 13y ago
FUNNY BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM HOLDING SHIFT WITH MY LITTLE FINGER.
- klez 13y ago
  unless you touch type, in which case you should change hand
mvaliente2001 13y ago
I used it. It was a very interesting experience, but a little hard to get used to. The position of alt is not comfortable for the quasi-mode required. CAPS is more accessible, but then you can't use your pinkie. Raskin's idea was to use a special keyboard with two spacial keys, LEAP FORWARD and LEAP BACK near SPACE. It's so sad that the project died. The interface was very promising and I long for that keyboard I never used.
- TuringTest 13y ago
  Even though the project died, the ideas in it have spread. It's a funny exercise for a trained eye to look for ideas originating in The Humane Interface throughout all kind of modern interfaces. That book has been much more influential than it may seem - all the good interface designers seem to know it or at least follow its principles.
TuringTest 13y ago
I've tried it, and it's a pain even with dedicated keys. This is one point of Raskin's design where the rationale is sound, but the solution he found was sub-optimal. Instead of a "pure" quasimode, modern interfaces do incremental searching following the search box style introduced by Firefox, with a persistent dedicated and non-obtrusive search field. I find that this is a superior interaction, and it still can be considered non-modal. The style has spread to notifications too, with browsers showing small rectangles above and below the window instead of an obtrusive modal alert dialog.
model-m 13y ago
The LEAP keys are supposed to be under the space bar, so that they are easily held down while your fingers are in the home position. Try it, it's surprisingly comfortable. I would pay good money (a few hundred dollars, easily) for a mechanical keyboard that had those two additional keys under the space bar, as well as a vertical F-key cluster left of the main typing area, as seen on old IBM PC/AT keyboards.

Has anybody used this, and can comment on how well the "type while holding the Alt (or capslock) key" works? I imagine it's a bit hard to type with both hands while holding down a key.

user24 13y ago

FUNNY BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM HOLDING SHIFT WITH MY LITTLE FINGER.

klez 13y ago
unless you touch type, in which case you should change hand

mvaliente2001 13y ago

I used it. It was a very interesting experience, but a little hard to get used to. The position of alt is not comfortable for the quasi-mode required. CAPS is more accessible, but then you can't use your pinkie. Raskin's idea was to use a special keyboard with two spacial keys, LEAP FORWARD and LEAP BACK near SPACE. It's so sad that the project died. The interface was very promising and I long for that keyboard I never used.

TuringTest 13y ago
Even though the project died, the ideas in it have spread. It's a funny exercise for a trained eye to look for ideas originating in The Humane Interface throughout all kind of modern interfaces. That book has been much more influential than it may seem - all the good interface designers seem to know it or at least follow its principles.

TuringTest 13y ago

I've tried it, and it's a pain even with dedicated keys. This is one point of Raskin's design where the rationale is sound, but the solution he found was sub-optimal. Instead of a "pure" quasimode, modern interfaces do incremental searching following the search box style introduced by Firefox, with a persistent dedicated and non-obtrusive search field. I find that this is a superior interaction, and it still can be considered non-modal. The style has spread to notifications too, with browsers showing small rectangles above and below the window instead of an obtrusive modal alert dialog.

model-m 13y ago

The LEAP keys are supposed to be under the space bar, so that they are easily held down while your fingers are in the home position. Try it, it's surprisingly comfortable. I would pay good money (a few hundred dollars, easily) for a mechanical keyboard that had those two additional keys under the space bar, as well as a vertical F-key cluster left of the main typing area, as seen on old IBM PC/AT keyboards.