A better mousetrap

As someone who makes his living with a keyboard all day long, I sometimes find myself pondering the ultimate keyboard.

First off I’ll let you in on a little known secret: the mouse needs to die. The mouse as a pointing device is counter productive. Yes, it’s counter productive. The mouse is great and intuitive for people new to a computer interface. But it is a terrible detriment to productivity for the advanced user. I’ll elaborate on this topic in a separate article. But for now just realize that I have no (or very little) use for a mouse on my ultimate computer interface.

So my idea for the ultimate keyboard is as follows; it’s not a board at all. Rather it’s like a ball with 10 holes in it, 1 for each finger. You slide your digits into this keyball. Picture a smaller bowling ball with holes for each finger.

Basically the keys are inside the holes. Each finger hole has multiple keys within it. For example your finger can easily move in four different directions: up/down/left/right. That would equate to four different keys. At first glance you have 4 movements per finger and 10 fingers gives you 40 keys which is not enough. But when you factor in “shift” or “control” keys you quickly factor up to the 100+ keys. That is the basic idea.

The finger holes do not necessarily need to be deep. Not at all. Perhaps they need only be just deep enough that your finger can penetrate the hole such that a slight movement will move the key. Maybe we’re talking about finger holes that aren’t even as deep as say a sewing thimble. So now picture this smaller bowling ball with 10 thimble holes in it.

Now this keyball will need a way to sit on your desk when you put it down. So on the bottom of the keyball needs to be a flat surface so it may sit there quietly with out rolling anywhere. Or perhaps there could be a leg stand or legs protruding from the bottom. It may not need to be a ball at all may it could be shaped as a cube a’ la’ keycube. Hmm keycube has a nice ring to it.

Yeah so maybe it is shaped more like a skinny cube rather than a ball. With 6 flat sides that would ensure it doesn’t roll anywhere.

To get a picture of how your hands will be positioned when using the keycube do this little exercise.

i) I assume you’re sitting infront of your pc now with your hands near the keyboard.

ii) Bring your hands together and lightly touch your fingertips with opposing hands so that your fingers sort of form a sphere.

iii) Initially your hands may be hovering over your keyboard

iv) But now, while keeping your fingertips touching, relax your arms and let them drop. Let them relax either to your sides or arm rests or resting on the table. What ever is comfortable.

v) Now with your arms relaxed comfortably and your fingertips touching imagine that you are holding the keycube and you are able to type with it.

This is the idea. Your arms are much more relaxed. You do not have to move near as many muscles to type, just fingers.

Pros:

No arm travel required. Finger movement alone.

Arms, hands and body may work in more comfortable and relaxed posture.

More efficient typing.

Better Mobility: Since keycube is held in both hands the hands are free to move away from the desktop. Scoot chair back away from screen, standing, what ever.

Cons:

Possibly slightly steeper learning curve.

I have periodically searched for “alternative keyboards” over the years. But nothing ever has come close to what I am thinking of. I even had this Keybowl for a 30 day trial. It was interesting but more for overcoming physical limitations than productivity.

However today I found this: www.alphagrips.com.

Alphagrip looks very interesting. I like the way that you hold it instead of resting your hands on the desktop. This looks very intereting. Check out the videos on their site. But after reading the testimonials page on their site, I see developers explaining why it won’t work for software developers.

But I may have to try one.

2017-04-06 Update

A while back I spotted the Datahand. It’s close to what I have been thinking about. It didn’t live long apparently but here’s a good review: http://octopup.org/computer/datahand . So I find it encouraging to see something similar. The key similarity is that there is just one single location for each finger – your hand does not have to travel at all.

Also here’s a short list of alternative keyboards: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/13-computer-keyboards-you-never-seen-before/

Also, I didn’t state it previously but it’s quite apparent that certain applications require a mouse, i.e. Photoshop et al.