I feel swipe to type should be an option on laptops. Using keys to type is slow compared to swiping across alphabets. Remove the physical keyboard and put a 6" to 10" lcd with touch input on it.
I was an early adopter of Swype and I’ve been using it for ages. I can probably hit 25-30 wpm with it on a good day. An average typist will hit at least 60 wpm and I can get over 100.
In addition, Swype is just more work than typing. Making tiny motions that require fine motor control is a lot more tiring than the broad movements needed on a keyboard.
Not at all.
Honestly, if you think one finger swiping is faster and better than ten fingers on a keyboard I would suggest you spend some time leaning to type.
You could have ten fingers on a keyboard plus some kind of assistance or auto-suggest too.
I’m not sure how well this would work but considering the ability of certain smartphones keyboard to learn your language pattern it could be useful to some.
you know what’s funny? the qwerty layout for keyboards were designed to slow people down because mechanical typewritters couldn’t keep up with the typing speeds. It’s purposely slower, moving the most used keys out of the way.
One wonders why we haven’t created a new keyboard in all these years. maybe with the same physical layout so that it could just be a firm/software adjustment rather than physical.
Where did you get this non-sense?
The reason for the layout is to have letters that are commonly typed together on alternating hands as it is faster and also would prevent jamming in mechanical typewritters.
You guys are pretty much saying the same thing.
keyboards were designed to slow people down … moving the most used keys out of the way
- /u/FuglyDuck
would prevent jamming in mechanical typewritters
- /u/Kalash
I’m not sure why the hostility calling it non-sense. It’s common knowledge QWERTY was created because typewriters frequently jammed when you were quickly typing characters that were close to each other. By spacing out the letters, they effectively slowed down the typing speed and made the machine more reliable to use.
The reason for the layout is to have letters that are commonly typed together on alternating hands
This is a feature of Dvorak. QWERTY basically randomly places the most commonly used letters randomly across the keyboard.
You guys are pretty much saying the same thing.
We’re saying the opposite thing. It was designed for typing faster and prevent jamming, not for preventing jamming by being intentionally slow.
I’m not sure why the hostility calling it non-sense.
Well, it is non-sense. But I wasn’t aware it was like a proper common misconception.
Ok I see now we are arguing semantics.
Problem- people were having jams
Solution- space out most commonly used keys randomly so jams are less frequent
Consequences-
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In theory assuming a perfect machine and a skilled typist you type slower because you have to move your fingers more
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in practice you type faster because the jams were a much larger limiting factor than the key placement
So they slowed it down in order to speed it up. Both of you are saying the same thing.
But your conclusion is faulty and the speed increase doesn’t just come from less jamming (which is now irrelevant anyway), but direclty from spacing out the letters.
Typing consecutive letters next to each other often means you have to use the same finger and pressing multiple keys with the same finger is slower than using different fingers, as your “free” fingers can move into position in advance.
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One wonders why we haven’t created a new keyboard in all these years.
Oh they have. There are quite a few different layouts, apparently the Dovarak is the fastest.
But qwerty has been in use for so long it would be impossible to change.
As a former sysadmin who hopped around to different machines to do stuff, I would hate it when I had to type on some developers’ computers, because they had set it up as Dvorak (vi on Dvorak is a special hell). Yes, it’s a more efficient keyboard as long as that’s the only machine you’re on. If you have to use different machines where most of the users are on QWERTY, you just use QWERTY.
It’s not so hard to switch back and forth with modern operating systems.
DVORAK is a keyboard layout that you can enable via your OS and use with a QWERTY keyboard. It’s laid out with the most used keys on the homerow to reduce finger movement.
I’ve tried swapping to it a couple times. Problem is, you have to throw all of your established muscle memory in the trash to learn it. I kinda wish I’d learned it first in a sense, but QWERTY is so dominant that I’d be struggling anywhere I couldn’t change layouts.
No, and if I have to get some real writing done on my phone I connect the BT keyboard I’ve been using since 2011
Hell no. I find phone texting way worse, even when swiping. I honestly don’t know how slow you’re typing that you find this faster. 2 finger technique while looking at the keys?
TIL people actually use, and like, swipe typing.
I much prefer real keys I can feel being pressed. I don’t even know how swiping would be faster unless you just can’t type. In which case: learn home row, ffs.
My partner and my mom both use swipe, I guess I thought it was more common. Meanwhile I would rather walk over to my computer and use a desktop version if possible if it’s anything more than a sentence here and there.
I’ve use swype on mobile for probably about a decade. I find it’s way faster than clicking individual keys on a touchscreen. but to think it would be faster than a physical keyboard is wild to me!
I touch type, so no
Using keys to type is slow compared to swiping across alphabets
You’d have to be really bad at typing for that to be true.
It’s only slower to you because you haven’t learned how to type properly. If you sat down and learned, you’d be typing on a keyboard much faster than you swipe on your phone. Much less typos, too.
I doubt swiping is faster than touch typing but I get what you mean. Sometimes you just want to swipe on a physical keyboard or Ctrl-F something in the real world.
Somebody, take away that person’s phone so that he/she won’t give new stupid ideas to tech giants
Tell us you don’t know how to type without telling us you don’t know how to type
I love swipe gestures on the phone and use it almost exclusively and I’m pretty fast with it… but in no world is it even close to the speed of a keyboard.
No, could never get used to the Swype thing. My fat fingers constantly mispell thank god for autocorrect. If they ever come out with a blackberry like smartphone with physical keys I am all for it. Doesn’t help that I’ve been a PC guy my whole life and know the QWERTY keyboard like the back of my hand. I somehow have even developed my own typing technique that beats home-rowers in speed.
Welp, that’s certainly an opinion
Swiping is nice and all, even though you rarely write a whole sentence without it getting a word wrong and what you wrote not even being a suggestion, but it’s nowhere near the speed of typing.
Unless you’re doing that only with your thumb as well?
I hate swiping. I’m typing this on my tablet with Hacker’s keyboard (the old one, with a full US keyboard) and I miss the nechanical feedback. At least the keys are where they should be, kinda.
To be honest, I type loads behind the PC with a real keyboard (DasKeyboard) and almost never on mobile.
