From: Ed Trager (ed.trager@gmail.com)
Date: Mon Apr 30 2007 - 10:45:01 CST
Hi, everyone,
Don't forget the complete opposite of the Optimus keyboard : a
completely blank keyboard with no inscriptions at all. I think
several manufacturers sell these. Here is one:
For learning how to touch type in the shortest amount of time
possible, a completely blank keyboard is arguably the best.
Also, it's cheaper than Optimus is currently.
Like most people, I don't have an Optimus keyboard nor a set of
stickers. One year I bought a keyboard in Thailand with the Thai
letters on it, but the printing on the keys was so crowded --upper and
lower case Latin plus all the Thai letters --common ones unshifted,
rarer ones shifted-- that it really did not do much good at all.
Finally I decided to carry little folded-up photocopies of the
keyboard layouts that I need to use the most in my wallet. On the
photocopies layouts (one for unshifted, one for shifted), I drew
circles around the keys showing where the fingers sit in the "home"
position (i.e. those keys corresponding to ASDFG HJKL:" on a US QWERTY
layout).
Since I had to look off on the side of the desk to view the photocopy,
I learned to touch type most of the keys very quickly. It is only
those very rare letters that hardly ever get used that one forgets the
positions.
For those rarer keys and for infrequently-used layouts, something like
Optimus sounds great. The product will be even better if it has the
weight and "click-clack" springy key feel of those older "cast iron"
IBM keyboards.
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