OT: A Modest Proposal

From: Asetnil (skearney_at_accessbee.com)
Date: 10/30/04 

Date: 30 Oct 2004 16:24:22 -0700

A better keyboard

   Christopher Latham Sholes, the typewriter inventor, originally put
'e' on the home row. In normal typing, collisions between print bars
became inevitable. His 1868 version was a conscious attempt to cause
typing to be slower. It has been universal ever since.
    Might there be a compromise with the present layout, something
that might increase typing velocity yet be more relaxing? Something
that has only minimal changes? Several years ago, I came to believe
that there is.
    I was able to ascertain that putting letters beneath the same
‘motor neurons' will enable an easy transition to using the more
common letters of English text on the home row. Transposing ‘etni'
with the less common letters presently on the home row, results in an
increase that amounts to more than twice the number of letters in
average text on the same home row positions.
    More to the point, this increases the thirty three percent
typewritten text presently on the home row by twenty nine percent to a
total of sixty two percent. This might help with carpal tunnel
symptoms. Thirty six percent will be available to the ‘aset' entry
without transverse motion.
    Simply put, seven point five percent of english text is
represented under the two pairs of keys to the left and right of 'gh'.
Replacing these with e, t, n, plus i, increases the amount of text
that can be typed, without moving a nail, to thirty five point five
percent. That's almost five times the efficiency.
    I call this improvement 'asetnil', which represents the new
letters on the home row, along with those presently there that will
stay. The aspect that gives it acceptability over other options is
the ease of the transition. This text that I am writing leaves out
those less common letters so that a person can actually tryout
‘asetnil' right away, to experience how easy it is to use.
    Its beginning use might be as a means to retrieve a post. perhaps
‘asetnil' will become a novelty, semi secrete writing. With time, its
motion saving aspect might result in a pleasurable typing experience.
Perhaps it may eventually win converts.
    Given the simplicity in programing to transpose these letter
pairs, ‘asetnil' might become a primary means to input into a
computer.
    This post is OT, except that all posters must use some input
instrument. In that narrow sense it is relevant to any news group, or
anyone who types. I will appreciate any opinion anyone might have
concerning ‘asetnil'.

    Stephen Kearney

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