Edit: putting this here, since the post was deemed necessary to hide over at the
http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/17742-case-sneak-peekthread
What is the technical reason for having a doublespace there?
? Technical reason?
A technical reason would be along the lines of something that makes sense. To me, the reasons for having a double space seem dubious and arbitrary.
There is a huge benefit to doing singlespace, and i cant think of a single technical reason not to.
The technical reasons most layouts feature
singlespace are these.
Much better for international users, the difference between real and toy.
It is symmetrical, someone already noted the non-symmetrical SD-slots, that makes sense because of the PCB layout, so it doesnt bother me/cant be fixed, but this is a free design-win.
Better adaptability, not only can you do many languages other than english, it also means you can do alternative layouts if the demand is high enough.
Quite frankly, making layouts is hard. It took the team behind ergodox over half a year to make theirs. This breaks more new ground, and having the adaptability to have more freedom in the future is good. Locking down with non-sensical options is decidedly bad.
Same buttons everywhere, same mechanical functionality, no extra things that have to work. Rely on the things that have to be relied on, dont add points of failure.
The reasons for having
doublespace have been quoted as
"looks more like a space"
Which is the wrong way of drawing from a full desktop keyboard. The space is a bar key there because its then in reach of your thumbs.
Adding another field to the right of the singlespace that is less reachable doesn't do _anything_. It wastes a key. And it doesnt work like a space, try it, you will soon forget whatever ill-deviced logic you had in mind.
It would be a shame if there was a delay in adapting the case-design to 64 keys, just because the insight into what makes a layout final is found out the hard way.
With 63 keys, the sad part is something that could have to the right of space is either not there, or moved somewhere else. Where moving somewhere else is limited to even less keys. Nobody makes 64-key layouts with a key to spare, even if that was a required feature. Because the need for something useful is far greater. 64 is the exact minimum before it progressively gets very ugly. It all fits together, and all decisions have ramifications.
Moving stuff where it doesnt belong has real implications for every user, from the ones who know where things are, to the ones who know why. Power-users that are used to the efficiency real keys bring.
Finding the space is also mentioned, but its in any event easier than finding the power-button, I don't know who these people are that cant do either, but their use of the pyra is limited... The market for the pyra is already well above casual cellphone-user, and people could use T9 keyboards just fine.
I have shown all the layouts to a lot of people, from casuals and the hardest nerds I know.
Nobody has issues finding the space, not a single one. I don't understand what problem making the space double-wide is trying to fix. I do however know how much it costs in usability.
