I had an idea a couple years ago, then forgot about. Figured I'd post it here and trade any goodwill I had left on this forum for people to hear me out.
Tried to cut out the BS and make it quick and painless to get through with a hopefully logical progression. Let me know if I succeeded.
Note: Unlike many of my other projects, this is not layout agnostic. There is no Colemak here.
Problem:
DESK-QWERTY
| ` | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | - | = | BSp |
| Tab | Q | W | E | R | T | Y | U | I | O | P | [ | ] | \ |
| Caps | A | S | D | F | G | H | J | K | L | ; | ' | Enter |
| LShift | Z | X | C | V | B | N | M | , | . | / | RShift |
PHONE-QWERTY
|Q W E R T Y U I O P|
| A S D F G H J K L |
|Sh Z X C V B N M BS|
|#? , * -SPACE- . EN|
To Scale Size Comparison (RL keyboard and RL phone)
D:Y1 | Q | W | E | R | From top of key.
Y2 \----\----\----\----\
Y3 | A | S | D | F | To bottom of key.
P:Y1 |Q|W|E|R|T|Y|U|I|O|P|
Y2 ||A|S|D|F|G|H|J|K|L||
Y3 |Sh|Z|X|C|V|B|N|M|En|
Observation: THAT'S STUPID!
Proposal: Fix Aspect Ratio.
|<---Phone Width--->| Keys
S/Sh=Shift B/Bs=Backspace
#?=Symbols *=Settings
Rt=Return
Qwerty
|q w e r t y u i_o_p| 10
| a s d f g h j k_l | 9
|Sh z x c v b n m Bs| 9
|#? , * -SPACE- . Rt| 6
4-Row Qwerty
|q w e r t y u| 7
|a s d f g h j| 7
|z x c v b n m| 7
|S i o p k l B| 7
|#? , * -SPACE- . Rt| 6
Observation: Bigger keys, but suboptimal.
Proposal: Optimize with Keyboard Layout Project.
7x4 MPL Duo Phone
|S b w k j q B| 7
|m p l d u o f| 7
|r n s t a e h| 7
|z x c v i g y| 7
|#? , * -SPACE- . Rt| 6
Observation: Device specific layouts are a pain.
Proposal: Hold my beer.
Qwerty simplified diagram
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - = B
q w e r t y u i o p [ ] \
A S D F g h J K L ; ' R
z x c v b n m , . / S
7x4 MPL Duo Desk simplified diagram
; b w k - = 0 j q [ ] \ B
m p l d 7 8 9 u o f , ' /
R N S T 4 5 6 A E H . R
z x c v 1 2 3 i g y S
7x4 MPL Duo Desk
| ` | ; | b | w | k | - | = | 0 | j | q | [ | ] | \ | BSp |
| Tab | m | p | l | d | 7 | 8 | 9 | u | o | f | , | ' | / |
| Caps | R | N | S | T | 4 | 5 | 6 | A | E | H | . | Enter |
| LShift | z | x | c | v | 1 | 2 | 3 | i | g | y | RShift |
Observation: Symbol key locations questionable, number row may need adjustment and putting the bwk line on the bottom as a thumb row probably makes more sense. Also your naming sense still sucks.
Other Observations: A 'Text Art' style code block where one could use monospace fonts AND colors would be awesome.
If this caught your interest feel free to come up with your own 7x4 Layouts.
Also, what are people using for image hosting these days?
Cheap Test Drives: Footswitch, Maltron, Vertical Keyboards and The Wide Mod