Keyboard Shape and Arrangement Effects on Keyboard Design Elements

The present study investigated the effects of different keyboard shapes and letter arrangements to determine the optimum design for text entry with a rotary controller. Few research studies have examined keyboard shapes to determine the criteria that are most relevant for non-standard input devices. This study included examination of both visual search and movement control aspects of text entry. Older and younger participants moved a knob on a rotary controller from a start position to a target position on four different keyboard shapes. These participants also searched for a target symbol on three different arrangements of letters, numbers, and punctuation marks on one of the same keyboard shapes as the movement trials. Results from the younger adults in both experiments are discussed in this study, along with early results from several older adults.