And many others don't even realize that investing a bit of research on better keyboards would bring us to much better use experience. I don't mean changing the typewriter style keys, those are ok, I mean all other keys; why there is no standard for a reduced keypad with the bare minimum for menu navigation and data entry? Unfortunately the arrow keys are a half solution by not implementing yes/no and other control keys. Why there's no contextual Info key to show information/help pertaining the current task?
The computer keyboard as we know it has to be extended, not taken away as the WIMP culture before and touch screen after attempted to do, with disastrous results so far.
I would welcome a kit made of say 120 key modules (one key per module, real clicky keys, please!) all with the same pinout, and normal+2x/3x/4x keycaps, special "key" modules such as trackballs, Thinkpad "nipples", analog knobs etc. then a breadboard-style carrier board where i can stick them as I want, plus a decoder board. Then, once the keyboard is ready, I can send a file describing its details to some high quality 3D printing assembly to purchase a pcb and case for my prototype keyboard and turn it into a real one.
>The computer keyboard as we know it has to be extended(...)yes/no and other control keys.
The Macbook Touchbar is pretty much exactly this, it shows e.g. dialog options as keys. I know it's not what you want (I like mechanical keys too), but it's the first actual extension of keyboards in a long time and it's convenient sometimes.
There is also the Optimus keyboard that sounds more or less like what you want built.
>Why there's no contextual Info key to show information/help pertaining the current task?
Usually F1 brings up relevant help on Windows. The actual implementation in most apps is useless though.
I’ve had that page bookmarked for like 5 years now, and its never changed/stopped being out of stock. I’m starting to doubt it ever physically existed..
> Unfortunately the arrow keys are a half solution by not implementing yes/no and other control keys.
Wouldn't "yes" and "no" be redundant with "enter" and "escape"? Most situations I can think of where you can confirm or abort an action, those actions will map to enter and escape.
Yes and no. Functionally yes because every keyboard has them but I'd like specific function keys to be part of the "arrow keys section" so that users become accustomed to them and one day if I have space constraints I can implement just the arrow keys section and expect the user to be able to input anything without looking elsewhere, including text if I implement a virtual keyboard the user can navigate using arrow keys.
I'd like keyboards to have sections that can be snapped together, say the typewriter section on the left, then the arrow keys section, then the numeric keypad, all independent each other. In this context we could envision keyboard addons such as for example customized function keys for very specific operations and or modifier keys which aren't mapped to the usual shift/alt etc. If every key (sensor/knob/transducer, etc) was a module which initializes itself according to its capabilities and once snapped in with others uses a common bus for communication, we could build on the fly haptic interfaces a hundred time more powerful than any "modern" touch screen out there.
I put up with touch keyboards because real ones are not very portable. It's good enough to get by, but it's not good. The same with touch interaction -- selecting a range of text is an exercise in frustration. I don't want that interface on my desktop.
Just because a thing has a CPU and operating system does not mean it needs to have a unified user experience.
