Vertical Keyboard, Anyone?

[Nurhisham Hussein]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.empowermobility.com/' target='_blank'>http://www.empowermobility.com/</a><br /><br /></div><img alt="" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//spt/auto/1210813000.usr14226.gif" /><br /><br />One of the things that bugs me about software input panels is that when you're using a device in landscape mode, the panel shoves everything else off the screen to the point where you can't see what you're doing. Even in portrait mode, the popup panel can be a little annoying, and I can just imagine the angst with square screens. Tom Jaros at Empower Mobility thinks he has a potential answer to this problem - make a vertical keyboard (see pic above). The mockup displayed has the SIP coming out of the left or right, or alternatively split in two. As the owner of a fairly large device (ok, it's a brick), this idea is pretty attractive and I'd love to see something like this developed. But before that can happen, Tom wants some feedback from the community about what you'd like to see, and whether you'd use an app like this - bear in mind that the picture displayed is a mockup, and will definitely be refined. Thumb/finger friendly keys is one area of improvement, and layouts that would help increase data entry is another. If anybody has any thoughts on this you can drop in on the <a href="http://www.empowermobility.com/" target="_blank">Empower Mobility</a> website and take the survey, or just post your comments right here. So, what do you guys think?

[kdarling]

Good idea!

Okay, here's what I would do:

Split the difference between using up horizontal and vertical space.

Make it U-shaped, with say two lines of chars along the horizontal bottom, and one line going up each side.

This would be easier to use with thumbs as well.

(You could also just do a single-line ring around the edge, but using the top would obscur the screen, which is a bad idea.)

Kevin Darling
Fifteen years' touchscreen development

[Menneisyys]

Well, I wouldn't use a non-QWERTY on-screen keyboard at all...

[empowermobility]

Hi all -

I just wanted to say thank you to all that have answered the survey. The number of submissions has subsided right now, but the overall response has been encouraging so far. If you have not taken the survey yet, I urge you to as it is a way to provide your concerns, ideas and wants in the product.

As the post says, the layout that is displayed means nothing. It's just to show that, indeed, this is a soft keyboard and that there is control over its location.

FWIW, it's clear that input will be the biggest challenge. If you have ideas as to how it might work, don't hesitate to suggest it.

Again thank you all who have taken the survey so far. I do appreciate it. In the coming weeks I'll let everyone know what is decided.

- Tom