What an utterly strange way to denominate dedicated letters as the basic way to type... Completely disregarding both efficiency and habit.
The reason why these people voted for it, is because they need it. Very good is not the correct term for something that fails.
Even so, you can have something that works better for all of them, and no letters that are impossible to type.
Its either compatible with dedicated keys for non-english audiences, or it isnt. I dont see a reason not to.
How can you have something that works better for all of them? How would you type, say, Spanish on your keyboard proposal?
If you understand correctly, you would let Spanish people remap [{ to grave/circumflex (like on
their keyboards), <> to ñ, keyboard Shift to acute/diaeresis, and perhaps ¡¿ at ]} or maybe as hidden Shift+AltGr combos near ! and ?, which would be Shift+AltGr+1 and Shift+AltGr+6. Then they would map the original symbols <>[]{} to the AltGr-layer, or maybe they would already be available as hidden symbols on AltGr+DFGHJK. In any case they lose their keyboard Shift and they have their language-specific keys not labeled at all, so they are supposed to already know how to blind-type on a normal Spanish keyboard, and then somehow transfer that 10-finger muscle memory to their two thumbs.
You may claim that that works better than having labeled ñ¿¡ and diacritics available, but I respectfully disagree.
By making it efficient, which is the main priority, and with English users where likely choices are presented, because they are the biggest group, and because what can be delivered out of the box is going to be superior for them if there is only one keymat.
I think its more about making something that fits for each individual in that they speak a language, and not "all of them". If the market is big enough, the visuals can also be dealt with in terms of keymats. That would increase the level from probable to good enough also for german.
<>[]{} are advanced symbols, which a lot of people are even fine doing without (from my vote). Having them hidden altGr+letters is acceptable for this audience.
Unlabled ! and ¿ on shift+altGr+1 and +button to the right of 0 is the norm for interlingual purposes.
I consider it obvious to try shift+0 since the key to the right of it is missing. (its a backspace)
It is the exact same combo in Spanish. But they also have a dedicated button for ¡ at 0. It would have to move if you want it dedicated.
However that is only the formal way to speak in Spanish, people writing for example IMs often disregard it completely.
¿
Quien es el gringo? for questions.
¡Pescador! for things shouted.
If people know how to blind type its a huge benefit. Since the current marketbase is only advanced users, is quite the bonus. They are the ones who voted too, lets not lose that potential.
Taking away the ability to type letters on the right, and the ease of producing additional keymats without much hackery, is in my view negative.
You only lose keyboard the shift if you want ^ ill account for this in the overview.
Based on
http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/layouts/7e81eec1ad02e9be1ff546537db1d32b with
http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/layouts/30a0088d8122d438eb0dfe55b9cb6a53 hidden layer
- Good enough: No major hurdles
- GOOD: Hope there are other qualities
- BAD: Very few of potential
- VERY BAD: Outright fail, almost none of potential
These are about half the audience, for purposes of language they are covered already, so lets not inflate.
All numbers in millions
226 americans
60 Englishspeakers in the UK
19 Englishspeakers in AUS
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93.5 German speakers 80 Germans 7.5 austia 5.5 Swiss 0.5 luxembourg öäü missing nobody(?) types ẞ on thirdlevelshift+U. Cant buttonhack to get AZERTY Pick keyboardshift or dedicated ^
66 French people No dedicated numbers (only with Fn+ if you want to move F-keys)
or letters, dont know how to type æ or œ.
Cant buttonhack to get AZERTY
46 Spaniards ¡ not close to where it is in spanish ¿ not close, ñ and Ç buttons missing
19 lower german scandinavians (5M Norwegian, 5.5M Danish, 9.2M Swedish) Missing all letters.
23
dutch-speakers (16.5 holland, 6.5 belgium) Diactrics moved and looks different. These people are often multilingual (notably German and French)
5.4 Finns Missing all letters
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I believe there is a line here, because above it are the likely marketgroups. The prospective buyers. Above it is the segment of international users the pyra should/can do well with.
Especially Germans in Germany, who cant get a bad trade for their currency.
Anything else is a bonus. I think making the cut at the first line drastically reduces sales from the second
124
Japanese None Few of the letters, famously difficult market for foreign products. Especially game-consoles. It could have been in the running, but its inprobable to attain that level. Sub-culture levels at most, which is still nothing to scoff at.
64 million Italians Cant buttonhack to get QZERTY I feel unqalified to uprate the assumption
10 million Portuguese Missing Ç and the other special button. I feel unqalified to uprate the assumption
(Other languages covered with diactrics)
.
