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    Beta Testers Wanted: Chorded Version of Colemak for Tablets

    • Started by asetniop
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    01-Jun-2017 18:26:52#1 Beta Testers Wanted: Chorded Version of Colemak for Tablets

    Greetings! Some of you may remember me coming by a while back during the early days of development of ASETNIOP, a chorded keyboard that's intended to make touch-typing possible on tablets (and other devices).  I'm thrilled to announce that the Android version is FINALLY HERE!  I recently added a layout that's designed based on the Colemak keyboard and was hoping to find some users that might be interested in trying it out. 

    Here's the signup page for Android: Android Beta Signup

    I'm also working on a version for iOS.  If you'd like to sign up for the iPad version (when it's ready), you can do so here: iOS Beta Signup

    I'm personally thrilled with the version based off QWERTY (it enables me to type on my tablet at a consistent 75 wpm), and I'm really looking forward to hearing the thoughts of the Colemak community!

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    02-Jun-2017 17:37:10#2 Re: Beta Testers Wanted: Chorded Version of Colemak for Tablets

    Here's the latest version of the layout, but it hasn't been formalized yet - I'm very happy to hear any suggestions you folks have to rearrange things to make it work as well as possible for Colemak users.

    colemak-6-2-17.png

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    04-Jun-2017 01:18:29#3 Re: Beta Testers Wanted: Chorded Version of Colemak for Tablets

    As I already mentioned in other topic, I would recommend to swap chords for L and M, so P will be symmetrical to L, and V symmetrical to M.

    And it is something annoy me in D,C, and B. I do not think that B deserve the primary chord it has now. It would be good to swap D and C. D will be symmetrical to H then, but chord for C will violate the rule that key's finger should be involved in the chord. Another option is to swap B and D, the rule is followed then.
    I'm not sure regarding D C B, but I'm pretty positive regarding L and M. Current chord for M is copied from qwerty's asetniop, arstneio have better candidate for that prime chord  (L).

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    05-Jun-2017 19:10:31#4 Re: Beta Testers Wanted: Chorded Version of Colemak for Tablets
    ckofy said:

    As I already mentioned in other topic, I would recommend to swap chords for L and M, so P will be symmetrical to L, and V symmetrical to M.

    And it is something annoy me in D,C, and B. I do not think that B deserve the primary chord it has now. It would be good to swap D and C. D will be symmetrical to H then, but chord for C will violate the rule that key's finger should be involved in the chord. Another option is to swap B and D, the rule is followed then.
    I'm not sure regarding D C B, but I'm pretty positive regarding L and M. Current chord for M is copied from qwerty's asetniop, arstneio have better candidate for that prime chord  (L).

    I'm definitely in agreement regarding L and M - that makes for much better combination chords for "me" and "my".

    As I mentioned elsewhere, I think I'm on board with switching D and C, unless someone here talks me out of it. 

    My reasoning on putting B as the index-index combination mainly stems from its placement on the keyboard; there's probably close to a 50/50 split of whether users hit that key with their left hand or right hand.  I don't think it's a "waste" of a good chord, though - in general I prefer single-hand chords over double-hand chords. I feel like it sets up better for the back-and-forth that was the foundation for Dvorak's key arrangement.  But ultimately I want Colemak users to be happy with how this works, so I'm happy to look at options for moving/replacing it.

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    05-Jun-2017 19:17:23#5 Re: Beta Testers Wanted: Chorded Version of Colemak for Tablets
    davkol said:
    ndiaz said:

    Free non-commercial license means asentiop is a trap, and i encourage people to not use your software as this is not free as in freedom, this is a forum where people share knowdlege, this is not a forum where people come and sell snake oil to subscribed users.

    I don't know how offering a free non-commercial license qualifies as "selling snake oil".  What part of that is so objectionable?

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    09-Jun-2017 22:39:15#6 Re: Beta Testers Wanted: Chorded Version of Colemak for Tablets

    Revised keymap based on feedback - have swapped C/D and L/M

    colemak-6-9-17.png

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    • From: Viken, Norway
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    10-Jun-2017 18:07:43#7 Re: Beta Testers Wanted: Chorded Version of Colemak for Tablets

    Your diagram is so pretty and flowy... whoa man. ;-)

    The layout doesn't make that much sense to me though. Why isn't P on S-T (and L on N-E) for instance, when A-R→W and R-S→F? There's probably a reason but I don't get it. P and L are quite common and I don't feel that A-T and N-O are good chords. D and H on the other hand, are so common that I'd keep them on easy two-handed chords like S-N/T-E.

    Another good principle for this might be to always keep a letter's mapping connected to the finger that hits that key on a normal keyboard! So that all the letters hit by, say, the middle left-hand finger (meaning FSC) still are hit by that finger plus something. Or, if you want to keep the idea of making the letter-in-the-middle like A-S→X and R-T→C (which is nice!) then that should be more consistent too (for instance, S-N→V and T-E→B etc). I think that'd help make it easier to learn. But hey – everyone's a critic and the unenlightened doubly so, hehe!

    Last edited by DreymaR (10-Jun-2017 18:23:34)

    *** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
    *** Check out my Big Bag of Keyboard Tricks for Win/Linux/TMK... ***

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    11-Jun-2017 19:53:33#8 Re: Beta Testers Wanted: Chorded Version of Colemak for Tablets

    Another good principle for this might be to always keep a letter's mapping connected to the finger that hits that key on a normal keyboard! So that all the letters hit by, say, the middle left-hand finger (meaning FSC) still are hit by that finger plus something. Or, if you want to keep the idea of making the letter-in-the-middle like A-S→X and R-T→C (which is nice!) then that should be more consistent too (for instance, S-N→V and T-E→B etc). I think that'd help make it easier to learn. But hey – everyone's a critic and the unenlightened doubly so, hehe!

    That's the basic idea that I started with in ASETNIOP, and tried to carry over into the Colemak version, though it gets a little tricky when trying to balance that with making things easy to use.  Experience has taught me to favor single-hand chords over cross-hand chords (along the same lines as Dvorak's design principles - to get as much of a left-right-left-right rhythm as possible) so that's why the cross-hand chords tend be lower-frequency letters and characters.  That means characters like X and Z get assigned last, to whatever remains available after using up all the "good" chords.

    Thanks for the thoughts - I use the ASETNIOP variant so I don't have any attachment to the placement of things in the Colemak variant; I just want to provide something that works as well as possible for Colemak users.

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    12-Jun-2017 14:48:53#9 Re: Beta Testers Wanted: Chorded Version of Colemak for Tablets

    The revised keymap looks good for me, new P - L, D - H are just right. When we will be able to try it?

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    12-Jun-2017 14:59:00#10 Re: Beta Testers Wanted: Chorded Version of Colemak for Tablets

    One more question: as I'm using my left thumb for space and right thumb (in ortholinear keyboards) for shift, would it be possible for user to configure Space and Shift placement (right space or left space)?

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    12-Jun-2017 20:29:16#11 Re: Beta Testers Wanted: Chorded Version of Colemak for Tablets
    ckofy said:

    One more question: as I'm using my left thumb for space and right thumb (in ortholinear keyboards) for shift, would it be possible for user to configure Space and Shift placement (right space or left space)?

    That's a good suggestion.  I'll add that.

    I'll probably add that before I push out updates to the Android version, iOS version should go into beta this week.

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    24-Jun-2017 01:03:42#12 Re: Beta Testers Wanted: Chorded Version of Colemak for Tablets

    ICYMI, beta version is now available for both Android and iOS.  You can sign up here:

    iOS: http://asetniop.com/beta/ios_betaregister.php

    Android: http://asetniop.com/beta/betaregister.php

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