simple vs. complex keyboard, was: Re: Proposal to add 2 Romanian characters

From: Cristian Secarã (orice@secarica.ro)
Date: Tue Apr 27 2004 - 15:47:10 EDT

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    On Tue, 27 Apr 2004 13:12:10 -0400, Michael Everson wrote:

    > I disagree. More is better. See
    > http://www.evertype.com/celtscript/ga-keys-x.html

    I disagree. Less is better :)

    Honestly, that depends on the OS used.
    A keyboard is useful to the end-user, only if this user *knows* what
    that keyboard has to offer.

    On MacOS, there is a very intuitive application that helps the user to
    discover its keyboard (I don't remember the application's name -
    keycap, keymap, or smth).
    For this OS, no matter how many characters can be generated, so far the
    user can see them all (and yes, the user can).

    On Windows, such a tool does not exist; therefore the top key on a
    keyboard must be physically labeled in order for the user to know which
    key makes what.
    For this OS, less characters means better, because a very complicated
    keyboard labeling will lead to a nightmare.

    Cristi

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