4 ms·

That's cool as far as it goes. But what about the keyboard? The mouse is just one aspect of the computer interaction. I can't remove my keyboard from my desk j

That's cool as far as it goes. But what about the keyboard? The mouse is just one aspect of the computer interaction. I can't remove my keyboard from my desk just to make room for this mouse replacement. The keyboard seems a big barrier (literally!) for getting this device on the desktop.

aik 17y ago
The end of the presentation had an image of a possible solution - basically having the touch pad exist right below the keyboard, just like it is on any laptop built today. Definitely makes the keyboard/touchpad area quite a bit larger though.
- extension 17y ago
  If you imagine the touch pad being wide but not much taller than the one on a laptop, it starts to seem more practical.
inffcs00 17y ago
At the end of the video you can see the multitouch device integrated with a keyboard. :)
- catch23 17y ago
  it seems like the touch system should be able detect where your main 4 fingers are, and then show a rough virtual keyboard in its space with your 8 fingers on the home row automatically. The only thing lacking would be tactile feedback, but that's solvable. If people are accustomed to seeing the 10 dots representing the fingers, it should be easy to provide small visual cues to indicate if you're about to type a letter that isn't what you want.
  - ismarc 17y ago
    I type 80+ words a minute regularly. It would be insanely difficult to type at that speed without the little nubs on f and j keys, as well as the tactile feedback as fingers slide over keys preparing for what they're going to be typing next.
joe_the_user 17y ago
Indeed, double Indeed, what about the keyboard? Funny how much of the video seems act as if the mouse was the ONLY way that users actually input information into computers in the last twenty years. But even the newest user is going to be using the keyboard and the more experienced a user gets, the more they use the keyboard. And even more, as computers become a normal part of human society, interfaces pandering to novices will become less important, not more important. The question will change, is changing now, from "how do I use this thing?" to "How can I be more productive with this thing"? Conside that MOST of the data that users input is going to be text, which a form of discreet digital data. A mouse or manipulative multitouch interface, no matter how well designed, is useless for this because it inherently produces analog input which is then translated to a digit action - dragging a file to the trash versus just pressing the delete key. Photo editing or moving windows are exceptional cases but UI designers are constantly developing clever ways to do them specifically because they allow all sorts of kinesthetic analogs. Yet none of this solves the problem that this isn't the interface a user wants to do most their tasks.
- stcredzero 17y ago
  I would like a keyboard like the small Apple aluminum one, but with a multi-touch pad on the side. Also make the pad a small display like the iPhone. Have it switch modes depending on the Application. It would still be great for application switching and contextual menu selection as in the 10Gui video. One could also have a 10-key mode. Widgets could also appear there.

aik 17y ago

The end of the presentation had an image of a possible solution - basically having the touch pad exist right below the keyboard, just like it is on any laptop built today. Definitely makes the keyboard/touchpad area quite a bit larger though.

extension 17y ago
If you imagine the touch pad being wide but not much taller than the one on a laptop, it starts to seem more practical.

inffcs00 17y ago

At the end of the video you can see the multitouch device integrated with a keyboard. :)

catch23 17y ago
it seems like the touch system should be able detect where your main 4 fingers are, and then show a rough virtual keyboard in its space with your 8 fingers on the home row automatically. The only thing lacking would be tactile feedback, but that's solvable. If people are accustomed to seeing the 10 dots representing the fingers, it should be easy to provide small visual cues to indicate if you're about to type a letter that isn't what you want.
- ismarc 17y ago
  I type 80+ words a minute regularly. It would be insanely difficult to type at that speed without the little nubs on f and j keys, as well as the tactile feedback as fingers slide over keys preparing for what they're going to be typing next.

joe_the_user 17y ago

Indeed, double Indeed, what about the keyboard? Funny how much of the video seems act as if the mouse was the ONLY way that users actually input information into computers in the last twenty years. But even the newest user is going to be using the keyboard and the more experienced a user gets, the more they use the keyboard. And even more, as computers become a normal part of human society, interfaces pandering to novices will become less important, not more important. The question will change, is changing now, from "how do I use this thing?" to "How can I be more productive with this thing"? Conside that MOST of the data that users input is going to be text, which a form of discreet digital data. A mouse or manipulative multitouch interface, no matter how well designed, is useless for this because it inherently produces analog input which is then translated to a digit action - dragging a file to the trash versus just pressing the delete key. Photo editing or moving windows are exceptional cases but UI designers are constantly developing clever ways to do them specifically because they allow all sorts of kinesthetic analogs. Yet none of this solves the problem that this isn't the interface a user wants to do most their tasks.

stcredzero 17y ago
I would like a keyboard like the small Apple aluminum one, but with a multi-touch pad on the side. Also make the pad a small display like the iPhone. Have it switch modes depending on the Application. It would still be great for application switching and contextual menu selection as in the 10Gui video. One could also have a 10-key mode. Widgets could also appear there.