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Colemak Talking Points

  • Started by lalop
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  • From: Viken, Norway
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@Lalop: Yeah. In that case, maybe this image is clearer? Or maybe not; I rendered it at 45 dpi but it seems your rescaling did as good a job.

CmkIBM_HomeEmphasis_45d.png
    The Colemak layout. Keys changed from their QWERTY positions in bold. Home position in green.

@Davkol: I ... think I disagree. To each their own I guess. As for the font, I used the proper font that should be on IBM keyboards as I researched it – but I think my MS Windows may be approximating it now. Of course, the original image has small letters in the corner of each key, but that doesn't show up well on small images and the letters positions are important here.

If anyone else than Davkol feel that the bold is too bold there are plenty of options, like blurring it and/or graying it out a little. I think it's a neat enough idea to show which keys are different from QWERTY, as that's pretty much the main point.

On the above image, I rendered it without the dark gutters and toned down the bold face a bit. Don't know how that works out.

Last edited by DreymaR (07-May-2014 14:27:15)

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A typeface is a family of fonts. Fonts are for instance Palatino.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typeface

Right?

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colemak2.jpg

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On comparing with the old one, I think the lack of black border does, indeed, make the smaller image look less cluttered.

I'm curious, does this new rendering also look good on the Tarmak mini-gif?

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Thanks, Lalop! I had nearly forgotten about rendering the images without the gutters. The full-scale images look better with gutters I think, but the downscaled ones are another matter entirely. I could also make the gutter gray but no gutter seems to work well for the small images.

I tried a new animation rendering based on the new PKL help images for Tarmak. This time I've used incremental coloring as in my first attempt a while ago, because it looks nice to my eye, and slowed the whole thing down. The key caps didn't have the simpler look this time, which is mostly because I forgot about them but I hope that's okay. What do you think?

Old:
Tarmak_SpectralAnimation-45d_2014-05-05.gif

New:
Tarmak_SpectralAnimation-45d.gif

Last edited by DreymaR (20-May-2014 11:57:40)

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I think it's a fine improvement.  The artifacts on the sides of the keys are still there, though less noticeable now that there are no borders - could you do the same thing as with the other image to fix them?

So I suppose a sample signature might be:


Tarmak_SpectralAnimation-45d.gif
"Slow and steady wins the layout race" -Aesop's Fables

Last edited by lalop (20-May-2014 17:36:15)
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There were some pixels between the keys, due to aliasing. Big fat keys with narrow gutters isn't simple!

I solved the issue by generating a key mask and using it on the rendered images. Thanks for pointing this out; I saw it myself but didn't bother yesterday.

Last edited by DreymaR (21-May-2014 10:35:26)

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Slow the animation down if possible.

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I did slow it down! ;)

The whole sequence takes about 20 s now and I think that's about right? The transitions are 1.5 s over 9 frames, and the dwell time on each stage 1.5 s except for the full Colemak that stays for 3.0 s.

Any particular part you'd like to change?

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Sorry, it never gives me enough time to rest my eyes on it.

Perhaps that isn't the point.  A link through to a page with each iteration would probably be more beneficial.

Or possibly one faster transition followed by something slower followed by a still.

Last edited by pinkyache (21-May-2014 16:01:11)

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With the pixels fixed, it looks solid as far as I can see.

This speed is mostly good for a signature pic, I think.  However, when you're staring and one of the images stays for twice as long, I think the brain is ready to think of that as the last one - the next transition to the real last one then quickly back to QWERTY is somewhat jarring.  I would suggest upgrading the last, all-black Colemak image to 3.0s, and possibly consider downgrading the previous one back to 1.5s.

Last edited by lalop (21-May-2014 17:01:13)
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How's it now? Longer dwell times on each step, and a smoother fade-out. I prefer to dwell the longest on the most colorful step as it's so pretty! :)

I don't think this image should be considered a real learning aid, if that's what you're after pinkyache. As Lalop says, it's more of a sig animation and/or an eye-catcher. As such, it can't be too slow either.

Last edited by DreymaR (22-May-2014 10:30:51)

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That feels better.  The Colemak layout at the end, is flipping too quick back to Qwerty.  As a signature animation I wouldn't loop it either.  That could get quite irritating.  I'll shut up now.

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The looping is typical for that kind of thing. Can get irritating, true – but as we don't actually have sig pics here it's mostly a moot point. Also, I guess it's good that it moves more slowly then.

How exactly do you suggest it should flip more slowly back? Earlier I had it dwell on the colorless Colemak but as Lalop points out that gets annoying. I could let QWERTY have a longer dwell time, or have the whole transition from colored Colemak to QWERTY go even more slo-mo?

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My bad, I didn't realise that it landed on Colemak in colour and then transitioned to black and white with no key changes, to then transition to Qwerty.  It was that last transition that feels fast.  The move from colour to black and white almost indicates a change in my little mind.  Perhaps that transition isn't needed or it should just transition to Black and white and end (no looping).

Last edited by pinkyache (22-May-2014 12:16:32)

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The new dwell times are mostly good, but some of the transitions were slowed down along with them, which makes it look jarring (not enough frames per second) when you're looking directly at them.  I think the original transition speeds were good (though something in between may also work).

The last short dwell time (with the all-black colemak) is the only one I'm not sure about.  I guess it is pretty cool and adds a sort of "teaser effect" to it.  As pinkyache points out, though, the quick switch can be confusing if you don't already know what it is.  I'd like to also see an alternative version where all-black colemak has the same dwell time as all-color.

P.S. I'm actually planning on using the sig pic on other forums, so even if we don't notice it here it's still important!

Last edited by lalop (22-May-2014 13:22:57)
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Now the transitions should be smoother and there's no extra dwell (well, maybe 50 ms) at the black Colemak frame. What do you think?

Last edited by DreymaR (22-May-2014 13:54:24)

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The effect of the last black frame was pretty cool.  It gave me an impression of finality (i.e. that the gif is looping back to the beginning), much better than the previous ones.  Try to preserve that effect.

With the exception of the 2nd-last, full color -> black transition, all of the transitions were pretty smooth as far as I could see.  With that 2nd-last transition, I'm not sure whether or not it aids the above effect.

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