Xah keyboard Blog

Acer Aspire VX 15 Gaming Laptop

2017-07-23

German Keyboard Layout (major update)

2017-07-23

Russian Keyboard Layout and Programing (major update)

2017-07-23

Russian Keyboard Layout (major update)

2017-07-22

Marquardt Mini-Ergo keyboard

2017-07-20

Northgate Omnikey Evolution Ergonomic Keyboard

2017-07-19

The French Keyboard Layout is probably the suckest layout that exists, worse than QWERTY for English. See French Keyboard Layout (major update. Thanks to Max P for the detail)

2017-07-19

Chinese Input Methods (updated. added detail.)

2017-07-18

Japanese input methods and layouts and what i learned

spent some 2 days studying Japanese input methods and layouts.

Japanese Keyboard Layouts

it seems to me, the Japanese JIS X6004 Layout is the best. (this is just first impression random guess.)

The thumb-shift ones, Nicola and TRON, have the one hand thumb+shift+key strain problem. Though, it can be fixed trivially by using pre-fix shift. (that is, press shift first but not hold)

M-Type look cool before studying it, but is actually the worst, because its romaji based input. But better than QWERTY JIS of course.

was rather surprised, that most people in Japan, use the most inefficient system, the QWERTY JIS. Basically directly borrowed from USA keyboard with least learning required. This is the same situation as with Chinese input, and also English using stupid qwerty and non-ergo keyboard.

〔►see Chinese Input Methods〕

〔►see Alternative Keyboard Layouts〕

also surprised to learn, that the Happy Hacking Keyboard, is not only the most idiotic for English, it is also the most idiotic for typing Japanese.

All the other Japanese keyboards have fancy input methods and or fancy thumb keys, competing for efficiency, yet the HHKB sticks with the QWERTY JIS.

〔►see The Idiocy of Happy Hacking Keyboard〕

sometimes, the elite goes for the most idiotic things. e.g. emacs fanatics swear by emacs keybinding, hacker type of coders swear by certain programing language idioms, and keyboard fans with HHKB.

i think the reason is cult factor. Once a cult is formed, some identity elements will not be open to challenge, because it risks disruption of the cult.

2017-07-17

Japanese Hiragana Frequency Table

Evaluating Japanese keyboard layout efficiency is very complicated. You have to convert kanji to hiragana, then get frequency table. And, get the ease-of-press scores of left/right thumb combinations with each and every key. (this part is particularly hard, because it's subjective, yet, the score is critical, as many Japanese input methods rely on the left/right thumb combination heavily.)

After that, you multiply each hiragana to the key-ease score of how to type it, sum them. Then, you have the score of that particular input method.

But, that's only the beginning. As there are lots other complications, such as typing kana with diacritic signs, romaji input system, whether they have special keys such as 变换.

Japanese Hiragana Frequency Table

MTGAP layout

apparently, some nerds are still designing keyboard letter layouts.

see http://mtgap.bilfo.com/completed_keyboard.html

it's like, is x++ faster or x=x+1? Like, keep hacking a dead horse.

it's by Michael Dickens

His layout is called MTGAP layout. Apparently based on evolutionary algorithm.

I haven't looked into detail what he's doing, but he seems to have spent significant effort, for like 10 years.

he's got a list of layouts, more than that i know. But lots of it is now dead link. See http://mdickens.me/typing/alternative_layouts.html

mouse double click problem, an implicit collusion?

my Logitech G600 Mouse, the pinky button is now doing double clicks.

Logitech G600 Gaming Mouse Review

i think there's implicit collusion among mouse makers, that lets mouse buttons do double click after a year or two.

2017-06-16

Touch-Typing, a Relic of Keyboard Design?

2017-06-14

Conquering Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Other Repetitive Strain Injuries: A Self-Care Program

for those with hand pains with typing, found this highly rated book

〔 Conquering Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Other Repetitive Strain Injuries: A Self-Care Program 1996-04-01 By Sharon J Butler. At Buy at amazon〕

2017-06-14

The Split Keyboard: An Ergonomics Success Story

Great article, survey and summarize research on keyboard ergonomics. 〔The Split Keyboard: An Ergonomics Success Story by David Rempel, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California. split_keyboard__david_Rempel_2008_HF.pdf〕

2017-06-13

Keyboardio Keyboard Review

2017-06-10

Plum Keyboard

2017-06-09

this is about my best. 90 wpm. try at http://typing-speed-test.aoeu.eu/?lang=en

for tutorials etc, see Typing Habits, Repetitive Strain Injury ⌨

2017-06-09

Mac Keyboard Viewer and Unicode (major update)

2017-06-08

Never Buy Razer or Das keyboards

razer orbweaver keypad 88995
Razer Orbweaver Keypad (major update)

Never buy Razer products. They market to ignorant gamers, with price twice as is worth. This is similar to Das, marketing to ignorant programers, whereas cheaper and better keyboards are widely available in gaming community.

the thing is, you'll get gamer or coder idiots huffy and puffy defending their ignorance.

2017-06-08

Esrille New Keyboard Review (updated)

2017-06-07