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TypeMatrix Keyboards in the News
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(Santa Barbara News Press: Monday, May 27, 2002;
top of BUSINESS section, pages A8/A9
)
"New keyboard has advantages for tortoises and hares of typing"
"I'm not an ergonomics expert at all, but one thing that seems true is that
different keyboards suit different people. If you're getting repetitive stress
injuries (RSI) from typing on one keyboard, another style of keyboard may be
one alternative for solving, or at least, minimizing, the problem.
TypeMatrix of Santa Barbara has just released the second generation
of its TypeMatrix keyboard, which takes a much different tack to keyboard functionality than
the Microsoft aircraft carrier-sized angled keyboard.
TypeMatrix is the brainchild of Henry Webber, who started developing
the keyboard in 1997. It is substantially smaller than a standard keyboard, and the
shift, enter, backspace and space bar keys are huge and located in several places to
make them convenient for various typing styles. (I like the CenterEnter and CenterBackspace keys.)
The keys are aligned in straight rows, not offset. The keyboard
is split into left and right sections, but the halves aren't angled. Like a laptop
keyboard, it doesn't have a separate numeric keypad.
The function keys are accessed as a keystroke combination using a
separate function key. If you're a cheetah-fingered keyboard aficionado you can
also set up TypeMatrix to operate as a Dvorak keyboard.
My overall impression is that while the keys are bigger, your fingers have to do
less stretching. But RSI issues don't have to be the driving force to use the
keyboard; its other features suit many users' situations. For hunt-and-peck typists,
particularly those with less than stellar eyesight, the big keys and the smaller number of keys
make the petual hunt less annoying.
If you have only a small working space for your computer, or if you
travel with a keyboard, you'll appreciate the smaller footprint of the keyboard (and
it's much thinner, too). This also means there's more room for your mouse to maneuver.
The keyboard retails for about $100.
You can read more about the keyboard on the Web site at
www.typematrix.com and see the keyboard layout at
http://www.typematrix.com/overview/."
by Dan Logan
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