A few days ago I started the search for an alternative keyboard to the common gboard. One keyboard that came up was Thumb-key. I find the concept of typing everything with one thumb really interesting. So I gave it a try and am using it from time to time (like right now). But the learning curve feels steep and I start to wonder, if this way of typing will ever come close to typing on a regular keyboard.

Is anybody using Thumb-key on a daily basis, and how fast can you type?

  • Hnery@feddit.org
    1·
    2 days ago

    In that case, I attached you a screenshot of my personal layout. I tried optimizing for

    • roughly qwertz positions to easen learning curve
    • most common german monograms, bigrams and some trigrams (confer how you’d input “sch” with a very quick diagonal tap tap swipe gesture with only one change in one dimension, staying on one axis)
    • keeping ergonomics in mind, optimized for right hand use and positioning more common letters with more easy to execute gestures, and having as few out of bounds gestures as possible
    • not ignoring english completely

    I really should update my thumb key

    • HumbleExaggeration@feddit.orgOP
      2·
      2 days ago

      Thank you for sharing your layout. It was a good starting point. I changed some things arond a bit and arrived at the following layout. I find it good for writing in german, but in english there are still some challenges like ou or oo that are kind of slow…

      • Hnery@feddit.org
        1·
        19 hours ago

        Glad I could help! for bigrams like ou I feel it natural, when the second letter can be started from the point where the swipe gesture from the first letter ended.