When he wrote 'arpeggiator', I was thinking this was going to go in another direction- holding down a single key that starts at a letter and then releasing the key as it reaches the letter you want. Because when I think an arpeggiator on a synthesizer, it's done via holding a key while notes repeat.
I always was very good at texting on a number-pad phone, via repeated presses- pressing (4) two times for a "H", pressing (3) two times for an "E", pressing (5) three times for an "L", etc etc. I was so used to this that I didn't even progress to using T9 texting before blackberrys and smartphones took over.
So I thought... taking that idea, and doing a press-and-hold while letters scroll by, could be pretty fast. And you could dial up the repeat rate until you started making mistakes. Map 8 keys for letters, one key for a space bar and long-press for extras, one key for backspace and long press for extras, and I think you'd be able to hit much more than 10 w.p.m. that the author winds up hitting.
Only problem: this can't be instantiated as a normal USB compliant keyboard and allow you to see the letters scrolling as you hold, without a specialty keyboard app for the phone.
Note that the text only mentions arpeggio[1], not arpeggiator[2].
> when I think an arpeggiator on a synthesizer
Playing an arpeggio[1] on a guitar or a piano means hitting the keys or plucking the strings in a quick succession - just like entering key combinations on this keyboard.
And yes, an arpeggiator keyboard sounds like an interesting concept too.
This app is not exactly your idea but it is along the same lines. You "drive" towards the letter you want by shifting your finger. It is the most interesting text input I've ever seen and have always thought it would be cool with some sort of joystick input.
Ha! That’s me! If anyone wants to help dasher dev please get in touch. We need $$$ or some good c coders willing to spend a couple of months working on it all. It’s good. It’s the fastest text interface for eyegaze, head mouse or “continuous gesture”. We need it desperately for those who can’t speak
Woah, nice! I am definitely not a c coder, but I'm a UX designer. I've thought this project was cool for years and would be interested in helping out if my skills are ever of any use.
Oooh yes. Yes. Let’s chat. We have some ux stuff done by a googler focusing on the config etc. people are desperate to do the zooming bit - I’ve try to hold back the tide until we can do the basics but I’d love some help tying up the designs on the overall app. wwade @ acecentre.org.uk
I've thought that something like this would be good for inputing text with controllers. with an onscreen keyboard moving your thumbsticks around seems like it would be faster in the long run than trying to use an onscreen qwerty keyboard.
I always was very good at texting on a number-pad phone, via repeated presses- pressing (4) two times for a "H", pressing (3) two times for an "E", pressing (5) three times for an "L", etc etc. I was so used to this that I didn't even progress to using T9 texting before blackberrys and smartphones took over.
So I thought... taking that idea, and doing a press-and-hold while letters scroll by, could be pretty fast. And you could dial up the repeat rate until you started making mistakes. Map 8 keys for letters, one key for a space bar and long-press for extras, one key for backspace and long press for extras, and I think you'd be able to hit much more than 10 w.p.m. that the author winds up hitting.
Only problem: this can't be instantiated as a normal USB compliant keyboard and allow you to see the letters scrolling as you hold, without a specialty keyboard app for the phone.