R. Paul McCarty wrote: > > Pete Hardie wrote: > > > > I'll wager that the Twiddler speed curve doesn't stay > > a constant > > percentage slower. > > Its the physics of the situation that prevent a chording keyboard from > matching the speed of a standard keyboard. You can only type one letter > at a time with a chording keyboard (although there are macros for common > letter combinations), but if you watch closely as someone types on a > standard keyboard you will notice that several fingers are moving to hit > serveral keys in parallel allowing signficantly faster typing speeds. > With practice I think anyone could type 100words/min with a standard > keyboard, but with a twiddler I imagine you are limited to closer to > 50words/min. Oh, I'm sure a Twiddler will not approach a flat keyboard for maximum speed, but I think there are several factors that work to lessen the speed difference: 1) size of keyboard - a regular kb will need to be ~8 inches wide to be acceptable for touch typing 2) stability - kb needs a flat surface or must be strapped to a somewhat solid object 3) writing code tend to use the more esoteric keys, slowing the touch typist down from the 'normal text' speeds 4) most wearable users (for now) are not doing transcription, but composing, which also would seem to be a slowing factor 5) most places where I expect to use a wearable as such are places where I won't have another computer now - so even a 50% loss of speed (if ease of use remains high) is acceptable. Basically, I'm saying that if you need to type for speed, you'll be in a place where you can sit down, pull out a QWERTY kb, plug it into the PS/2 socket, and type. -- Pete Hardie | Goalie, DVSG Dart Team Scientific Atlanta | Digital Video Services Group |
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