> Your idea is novel (to me), but the following seems more useful for text > input: > http://www.strout.net/info/ideas/hexinput.html
Someone else pointed out hexinput to me. The main problem I see with hexinput is that either the graphic that pops up when you hit a key will run off the edge of the screen for keys along the left/right/bottom edges of the keypad, or the keypad will need to be much smaller in order to make room for the part that pops up on the sides. The other option would be to always pop up the additional button graphic in the middle of the keypad, but that would require two distinct taps instead of a tap/drag/releas motion. The main difference with my idea is that when you press the center of a button, you woudn't need to drag your finger/stylus off the button, just a small amount to one side or the other. With this, you can actually press a button and roll your finger one way or the other to select different characters, with a motion similar to wiggling a physical button. For feedback, I'd suggest having the button's 3D shadow animated to shift to one side or the other to reflect the direction that the button is wiggling. Oh, and I'd also suggest limiting the number of directions that you can come off a particular button. The higher number of directions, the more likelyhood of having an input error. I think a 4-way would be much more accurate than a 6-way pattern. But I'd have to experiment with both in order to see if there is that big of a difference.
