Short description:

Thumb-o-Board 2000 is a concept of a simpler, more ergonomic keyboard for cross-platform use.

Image:

Long description:

The thumbs are our strongest and most versatile fingers, yet they are only used for adding spaces in most standard keyboards, apparently as a some kind of a strange typewriter-era relic. Thumb-o-Board is here to fix that - the shift for example is placed under the default resting position of your left thumb.

As you don't have to reach keys (especially the shifts) with your pinkies, the movement of your wrists is quite considerably reduced, making it faster and more ergonomic to type. All other navigation/modifier keys are accessed with the thumbs as well - a huge benefit for the frequent backspace or page up/down users for example.

Punctuation has been moved to the sides of the alphabetical keys - caps lock is replaced with comma.

The keys that have been removed:

Caps lock, num lock, scroll lock, pause, insert, print screen:
After 10 years as a windows user, I still don't understand the purpose of num lock, other than that it annoyingly locks the num pad in some computers by default. Only caps lock has managed to survive in modern mac keyboards.

F-keys:
These have become kind of useless since the invention of the mouse. While they do provide some nice workspace changes in some pro applications among other things, there's no use for them most of the time. If system-wide funtions are assigned to them, they'll interfere with the application-specific shortcuts. And since the shortcuts are almost never used consistently through different applications, they are hard to learn in the first place. Instead the Thumb-o-Board 2000 contains 6 programmable keys. If needed, F-key like functionabty could be assigned to shift + numpad for example.

Windows keys (or ctrls in mac), alt gr:
I think the windows keys were some kind of a sick scheme by Microsoft to get all 3rd party hardware marked with their logo, but they just forgot to add any functionality to the keys. Other than messing up full screen programs. Controls in macs are just as useless - they are only used for some special text manipulation/navigation functions not needed by the average user. Windows's alt gr could be replaced with just alt in many cases, or alt+ shift for example. In any case, three modifier keys is just enough.

The two deletes and backspace:
Have been merged into a single key.

Home and end:
Can be replaced with shift+page up/down for example. Or just simply by tapping either page button.

Numbers on the upper row:
It's more comfortable to input numbers using the numpad, and since the numpad is quite close to the default resting position of the hands in this layout, the upper row contains only special/punctuation characters.

81 keys in total - compared to ~104 in the standard

Improvements in ergonomics:

• Special keys and numpad are easy to reach
• Your hands are placed a bit more apart than in most standard keyboards
• The rows of keys are aligned evenly - less finger travel and a more relaxed writing position
• Almost all punctuation can be done without shifts
• Colon and comma remapped to the home row
• Easy to add accents, umlauts etc

The alphabetical layout featured is a slightly modified Capewell Close Keys 0.9.3 for English. At the moment I find it to be the best out of Arensito/Colemak/Capewell trio. It is however a work in progress, so the layout may change dramatically before it is officially released.
(My modifications: K moved to J's old place, J to the bottom row under the right hands ring finger, added international characters to the places of punctuation marks)

Now for the center portion:
1. The center portion is removable by unclipping the 2 black clips on the bottom edges and new keysets can be bought and clipped on. This idea, along with the name of the board, is taken from the Zboard (a real product: http://www.ideazon.com/us/products/zboardgamingkeyboard.asp) . For the rest of this section I'll describe the features on the keyset shown.
2. Top half features the famous silhouette of Jeremy from Pure Pwnage (www.purepwnage.com) divided into sections, each section is a macro, all of which are programmable. (By default, pushing Jeremy's balls will launch your internet browser and open the Pure Pwnage n00b store)
3. All the keys that games use most. This section has the keys that most FPS's use as well as many other games.

Now, the right-most section.
1. The large gray spot in the image is the extra plastic that allows the right half to swivel to your liking. It is offset so that you can switch from your mouse to your keyboard quickly and without a hassle, hopefully without ever moving your wrist. If you're computer chair has arms then your arms will naturally rest in a 'V' so by angling the board less stress is put on your wrists, thereby reducing risk of things like carporal tunnel syndrome.
2. On the top, you will see the three basic audio ports and 4 USB slots (USB 1 because you can't feed 4 USB 2.0 slots through a single USB 2.0 chord to your computer). This is ideal for LAN parties because you can easily switch from 2.1 speakers to headphones and plug in your mic without ever messing with any wire in the back of your box, greatly reducing set up time. This is even a good feature at home because you can hook up a USB jump drive, phone, PSP, PDA, or any other device without messing with any wires in the back of your PC.
3. On the number pad the addition cal button is there to toggle the large LCD's calculator mode.

Well, that's pretty much it. This board might be a pipe dream but I think it has a lot of features that gamers would like. If you have any suggestions, feel free to post.
PS- I know the keyboard looks pretty suck because the angles make the text a little harder to align, but look at the overall concept.

Single sentence description:
The Asset keyboard emphasizes Qwerty similarity to make it easy-to-learn, while improving typing speed and comfort.

Full description:

Asset is a keyboard designed to be easy-to-learn for Qwerty users, while perhaps improving typing speed beyond what Dvorak's potential. It can be remapped in software, so it could be used with any existing ergonomic or standard keyboard. It is primarily designed for English, and would probably work well in other languages given small changes.

• The ten most common letters of English are on home row (ASETDHNOIR). Using a literature corpus, and ignoring spaces, I found that these 10 comprise 69.8% of all characters.
• All punctuation and numbers stay in the same place except the ;: key.
• My personal experience suggests that the brain learns hand assignments separately from finger assignments. Therefore, if only the finger is reassigned, learning is easier. In Asset, all letters are typed by the same hand except "R". Qwerty is imbalanced; I found that 55.3% of characters are typed by the left hand (in order by frequency, ETASRDCWGFBVX!QZ1), versus 44.7% for the right (in order,OINHLUMYP,.K"'-?J;). After "R" is moved, the keyboard is balanced (50.1% to 49.9%).
• 12 letters stay in their original Qwerty positions (ABHMPQSUVWXY).
• 11 more are pressed with the same finger (CEFGIJKLNOT), and 2 of the last 3 with the same hand.
• Asset removes Qwerty's most major same-finger digraph contention, namely ED/DE.
• The Qwerty Caps Lock key is replaced with Backspace, so you don't have to leave home row to correct yourself. I recommend that Caps Lock be toggled by Shift+Backspace, but other good positions include the right Windows key or Scroll Lock. The original Backspace key remains in place, because old habits die hard!

I would recommend the following for a hardware implementation of Asset, or for that matter, any other keyboard layout:

• The bottom row of the standard keyboard is misaligned. When your fingers are on home row and you move them down, they end up between the keys below, which makes the intended key harder to press. I believe these keys should be moved left by about 1/4 the width of a key. This will improve alignment for touch typing while not excessively annoying those used to the original alignment.
• The top row is also misaligned. This can be realized by noting that the left hand must turn toward the outside of the body while the right hand turns toward the inside; obviously the design is not related to the shape of our hands. A simple solution would be to align the two rows squarely by moving the upper row by 1/4 key to the right; more elaborate solutions can be left to ergonomics experts.

Of course, the last two considerations are not specific to Asset and could be offered by any manufacturer of any layout.

Asset could be implemented as a hardware switch. If such a switch were become a standard feature, people would be more willing to switch to Asset because they could rest assured that the layout is available on public terminals and friends' computers. On the other hand, of course, if Microsoft and Apple were to support the layout in their OSs, the same effect could be achieved.

Asset home: http://millikeys.sourceforge.net/asset/

Left Side View	(Note: Both arrows point down)	Right Side View

There are three main advantages to this design:

1. Typing is easier now that there is no need to search for the Delete key or turn off the Caps Lock.
2. When using keyboard controls for gaming, such as in WoW or Entropia, the game is never interupted when the player's fingers accidently slip onto the Windows or Application keys.
3. With the additon of an Equal key and an Application button to the righthand keypad, either page navigation or spreadsheet data entry is simplified, depending on whether the Number Lock is on or off.

In-Depth Explaination:

1. I've left the core of the Qwerty keyboard in tact because altering the layout would mean relearning how to type.

2. I've replaced the Tab key with another Delete key. With this addition, your fingers need never leave the main body of the keyboard while typing.

3. Removing the Caps Lock Key was the first thing I did. I moved the Caps Lock function to a recessed switch on the left hand side of the keyoard. Most people will never have a reason to use the Caps Lock, but if the need should arise (as in graphic design), it only takes a little more effort to activate. In the mean time, it's not likely to be activated accidently. Replacing the Caps Lock key with an Alt key was the most difficult decision I faced in this design. I ultimately decided on using an Alt key rather than a Shift or Control key for three reasons:

1. Accidently hitting Alt won't effect a message or document that's being typed quickly.
2. Alt + F4 and Alt + Ctrl + Del can now both be hit in one stroke of the left hand.
3. Removing the Alt and Windows keys from the bottom left and right hand corners makes it easier to hit the Control key when using keyboard shortcuts.

4. I've placed Tab keys on either of the space bar because the functions of the two keys are similar. The other alternative I would consider is placing one Tab key to the left of the space bar, then extending the space bar further to the right. I've increased the height of the space bar to make it easier to distinguish from the Tab keys.

5. I've left the Alt and Control keys at the bottom right hand corner of the keyboard for easy access to keyboard shortcuts.

6. I moved the Application key to the keypad. It makes sense to have it there when you're using the keypad to navigate files and folders.

7. I moved the Number Lock function to a recessed switch on the right hand side of the keyoard, just like the Caps Lock. I then replaced the Number Lock key with the logical addition of an Equal sign on the keypad. Now, your fingers don't need to leave the keypad when performing calculations or entering formulas into spreadsheets.

8. I've moved the Windows key up with the other System keys. The reasoning behind this is simple. I hate it when a game or chat session is interupted when I accidentally hit the Windows key. I've never found it necessary to casually hit the Windows key with my thumb while my fingers are poised on home row, so I don't know why the Windows key is at the bottom of the keyboard in the first place.

9. With the addition of a Delete key to the main panel of the keyboard, these six buttons become superfluous. These buttons could still be included or the keys could be removed to make room for other features, such as audio controls or customizable hotkeys.

10. The Lock Indicator Panel could be left where it is, since the Caps Lock and Number Lock can still be activated with switches. My preference, however, is to replace this panel with small leds on the edge of the keyboard just above the switches. By led, I mean those small lights used for power indicators on the front of laptops. The Scroll Lock Indicator is replaced with a small led mounted on the top edge of the keyboard above the Scroll Lock key. By removing the Lock Indicator Panel, it makes even more room is for other features such as audio controls or customizable hotkeys.

Single sentence description:
X-Fu layout has been generated to minimize typing effort of English text using an effort model which includes effort contribution from stroke path.

Full description:
The X-Fu layout is a keyboard layout which makes typing English text much easier than QWERTY (not hard), Dvorak (not hard), as well as Capwell and Colemak (harder) see full comparison. The layout was generated using simulated annealing and a typing effort model which attempts to quantify the notion of hand and finger strain during typing. The model describes effort using

• individual key location weights (e.g. keys assigned to the pinky require more effort)
• long-range correlation in effort in which previous key strokes are used to weight the effort of successive ones
• stroke path, composed of components that monitor hand, row and finger motion to maximize the number of successive key strokes that are more comfortable (e.g. those with hand-alternation [afa], monotonic row progression [tab vs bta], monotonic finger progression [wer vs erw], and so on)

The X-Fu layout is generated by starting with the QWERTY layout and relocating only the character keys. Unlike Dvorak and other layouts see layout table, X-Fu has all its punctuation in the same location as QWERTY.

I am working on other layouts in which punctuation is remapped.

P.S made everything with Photoshop never changed other image to look this way

Scroll wheel could improve switching weaponsin FPS games
Extra keys at bottom to make it easier to use (no need holding shift)
Shortcut keys: log off, Sleep and turn off ;)

I am an editor at a newspaper, and among the keys I mostly use are: „Home“, „End“, „PageUp“ and „Page Down“.
So, what I did in my version of CapsLock-free keyboard is:
1)Replacing the „Tab“ key with „Backspace“ (also a very beloved key of every editor)
2)Moving the „Shift“ key one row upper, setting it in place of „Caps Lock“
3)Placing the keys „Home“ and „End“ where the „Shift“ Key was
4)Moving the right „Shift“ also one row upper, placing the keys „Page Up“ and „Page Down“ instead of it
5)Removing the left „Windows“ button, moving the „Ctrl“ and „Alt“ to the right, placing the „Tab“ button in the lower left corner („Windows“ key may be also kept, doing the „Space“ key smaller)

This keyboard is very symmetric and easy to get used to. You also can do it another way, for example, to keep the „Shift“ key where it is and to put „Home“ and „End“ on the place where the „CapsLock“ was (the same on the right side).

Here is the design:
http://static.flickr.com/79/244840360_28e98e720e_o.png

As you can see, the caps lock key is replaced with a larger Shift and Tab key for more accuracy in pressing these commonly used buttons. Another change is the control key has been moved from the very left corner, to the left of the spacebar. This allows users to use their thumb to press the control key and significantly adds to the comfortability in issuing commands. This was borrowed from the CMD key on Apple keyboards, it's a great idea though. Personally, stretching my little finger from control to another key becomes tiresome after a while.

Let me know what you think!
—James

Single sentence description:
A qwerty keyboard with customizable modifier keys, a compact size, and 4 downstream USB ports.

Full description:
This keyboard addresses the issue of modifier key placement by allowing the user to change the use of each key via switches located on the back of the keyboard. The switches are coded to symbols on the keyboard, and in the case of left and right keys, they are color-coded to left and right so that separate behavior can be attained. Keys are labeled with symbols instead of letters to encourage customization and to reduce mistake made by associating a key with its text instead of its mapping. The keyboard also features a compact size and may be used as a numeric keypad by holding a Fn key and pressing keys corresponding to a keypad with keys 7, 8, and 9 mapping to their counterparts and the six keys below filling in the rest of the arrangement.

The keyboard also features four downstream USB ports, two on the back near the center usb cable, and one on each side to allow USB mice or separate numeric keypads to be affixed without compromising the depth of the keyboard. The typing height is adjustable by the use of flip-out feet on the bottom of the keyboard. The keys use an Alps switch mechanism.

• Colemak gets rid of the Caps Lock, and replaces it with Backspace. You no longer need to move your hand off the home position just to correct errors. This alone saves about 15%-20% of total finger movement.
• Colemak places the 10 most frequent letters of English on the home row.
• Colemak has been designed to be easy to learn for existing QWERTY typists. Most of the keys remain in their QWERTY positions.
• Colemak takes into account many ergonomic factors: finger distance, finger balance, finger strength, hand alternation, uncomfortable finger combos, etc.
• It can work with all standard keyboards, including laptops. It is available for Windows/Linux/Mac and many more operating systems.

More information: http://colemak.com/

This keyboard design totally does away with the need for a CAP LOCK key. If you want a capital 'A' then press the top portion of the key. If you want a lower case 'a' then simply press the lower portion. The original CAP LOCK key was replaced with a left side Enter key. The Shift keys were maintained for user-defined functions.

Single sentence description:
dream keyboard

Full description:
Ergonomic keyboards are not enough good, so i design these.

Changes on this board compared to a standard one:

1. Tab slides down replacing the Caps Lock key.
2. One Windows key moved into the old Tab spot, other removed.
3. Ctrl keys moved inward for an easier reach from home row.
4. "Any" keys added to corners. Act as Enter keys by default.
5. The =/+ key is flipped so "-" and "+" are now both normal strokes.
6. Main keyboard area shortened by roughly a key-width.
7. Pause/break key has been removed.
8. Options key has been removed. [Key that acts like a right-click]

The real main intent of the Any keys is for easy remapping without losing another key. This could be useful in games and such, or alternatively for those who still want to have a Caps Lock key. The keyboard would also use sticky Shift to simulate a Caps Lock feature. The only other note would be that if it was produced I'd like to see it in three sizes based on where the red lines are in the photo above. The smallest board just has everything one absolutely needs making it nice and compact, the middle length board for those who never use the numpad, and the full size board for those who want everything your average keyboard would have.

The caps lock key is removed, replaced with the control key. The OS and Alt keys are moved left, and the space bar is extended. I see this as a reasonable, 'do-able' approach to getting rid of the caps lock key.