[kwlug-disc] looking for website manage/design/magic guys...

[Doug Moen]

On Wed, Jul 21, 2021, at 7:51 PM, Steve Izma wrote:
> I'm somewhat amused
> that "old Blackberry" + "physical keyboard" = primitivism.
> 
> About ten years ago, one of the best programmers I've ever known
> (David Slocombe from long-ago SoftQuad) gave me his opinion of
> touchscreens as a user interface: it boils down to "point and
> grunt". Will human beings eventually evolve into single-fingered
> mutterers?

Yes, but there's an engineering tradeoff.
When you add a physical keyboard, the screen gets smaller,
or the phone gets thicker.

I would certainly like better options for tactile input on a mobile.
One idea is to add a chording keyboard to the side of the mobile.
That would have lots of UI potential, as you could make chords with
one hand while making touch gestures with the other.
So this design is more than just a keyboard alternative.

Usually when I invent an idea like this, I google to discover it's already been done:
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/25/smartphone-case-doubles-as-chording-keyboard-with-gesture-inputs/