Maltron Mouth/Head Stick & Qwerty Flat Keyboards Compared
Mouth/Head Stick
Keyboard
Letter Layout
Fig 1: Mouth/Head
Stick Key Layout
Fig 2: Mouth/Head
Stick Keying Percentages for Figure 1 Layout
Comparison of
Maltron layout to a standard Qwerty Keyboard.
Analysis between
the Maltron layout and use of a standard Qwerty keyboard show
that the ratio between Qwerty and Maltron layout is 1.5 times.
This analysis has
been undertaken using the Modern Prose source text and calculates
the movement and distance travelled from key to key. Shifted keys
(Capitals Etc.) add the additional distance required to move to
the shift key before keying the shifted character.
| Char
Total |
9,635,540
|
| Qwerty
distance moved |
673.0
Kilometres |
| Mouth
distance moved |
449.8
Kilometres |
| Mouth/Qwerty
ratio |
1.50 |
|
"Frequency
of Use" for Single Finger/Stick Use Letter Layouts
A sample of modern prose
work by various authors has been analysed and shows the following
graphical distribution with the letter placements on the
mouth/head stick keyboard.
Chart 1: Modern
Prose FoU - Mouth/Head Stick Layout
The above chart
shows the even spread of movement during writing.
Note: For
clarity the space key has been shown on the bottom row. As a
double key it is in fact closer to the main group.
Chart 2: Modern
Prose FoU - Qwerty Keyboard Layout
Summary
The above shows the
advantage of the use of the Maltron keyboard over the use of a
standard Qwerty type. Although the ratio of 1.5 times for a
Qwerty keyboard may not seem much at first glance, as the figures
show this adds up to a significant difference over time.
Additionally the amount of side to side movement is greatly
reduced and more balanced with up and down movement. This is
significant in reducing strain on the head, neck and upper body
muscles.
Additional
advantages of the Maltron Keyboard become apparent when one
considers other forms of input, such as numerical data. The close
proximity of the number pad area allows their free use.
Conversely on a standard Qwerty keyboard the number pad area is a
significant distance from the main group of keys and may in fact
be unusable.
Information
on the Frequency of Use - Modern Prose - analysis.
|
