I apologize that this got so long; I just very much care about both of these points and I hope I can get some sympathy from the world out there:
First thing is, we don't want the user to have to re-learn anything. So the typical T9-style (or standard ordered-input) approach is probably good. I would propose only two changes, both of which make their respective input models suck way less: (1) predictive text is brilliant. adaptable predictive text is _way less_ brilliant. here's the user story to explain why: My wife and I have recently had our first child, a little girl. And we have been basically staring at her and drooling for the entire 13 days of her life outside the womb thus far. We have also been sending MMS and SMS messages like there's no tomorrow. But a couple days ago I went to work and on the way I had a text message come in from a (particularly attractive) female colleague. She wanted to be added to the list of people to receive e-mail alerts about a particular department's goings-on in the office. Her message read: "I would also like to receive your department's e- mails." I was driving, so I didn't care to stare at the screen of my phone while texting my reply. A few minutes after I got to work, I was called into my manager's office. I had to explain why I had just told a colleague "I have to bed you before you can receive them." PREDICTIVE TEXT INPUT SHOULD HAVE AN EASY STRUCTURE THAT WE CAN USE WITH OUR EYES SHUT. IT'S WHY SOME OF US STILL CHOOSE TO HAVE BUTTONS ON OUR TELEPHONES. The moral of the story is: don't let the phone change the order of possible words. (2) The most important key for anyone with a keyboard is the "last-key- pressed" key. It eliminates the last slowdown of a fast typist in this way: when you are working out a sequence of key presses on your keyboard, the "next" finger is always already on its way down as the "current" finger is registering its keypress. Everything is nice and sequential and the only waiting we do is in the tiny interval between key switches actuating. A fast typist works hard to eliminate the gap between each two key presses. HOWEVER, when pressing the same key twice in a row, suddenly you don't get to combine the "pressing here" and "attacking there" motions. You have to lower your finger, press the key, raise your finger, lower your finger, and press the key again before the regular, fast operation of your keyboard can resume. The "LAST KEY PRESSED" key should be accessible to both thumbs -- under the space bar. This way when I have to type "assessment" there's no slowdown. I can type a different key using a different finger for each keystroke in the ordering. LIKEWISE, ON A 12-KEY MOBILE PHONE KEYBOARD: If I have to type "federally" it is an ordeal: 333 (pause or right arrow) 33 (pause or right arrow) 3 (pause or right arrow) 33 777 2 555 (pause or right arrow) 555 999 That's going to take all day. Instead I want to use one of either * or # as my 'last key pressed' key, so I can eliminate all delays no matter what. This way, when I press 333 to make an F, I can immediately press ** to make an E: 333**3**7772555***999 and there's no pausing, no waiting, no endless stupidity. Please offer up your thoughts / responses to these possible conveniences. I'm talking about the cessation of reordering of t9 word choices and the use of a different key as your 'last-key-pressed' key for eliminating the delay or right-arrow presses in standard ordered input. Thanks much, ~ dan ~ [EMAIL PROTECTED] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Beginners" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-beginners?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
