Optimal Keyboard Design

Overview

Keyboards are the medium through which we give input. The most commonly used QWERTY keyboard was designed for the English language. The majority of the Indic language keyboards are laid out by literally ‘pasting’ local script letters to existing QWERTY keys. However, English is a Latin script and Indic languages are in Devnagari script, in which there is more number of letters and also has vowels like “Kana”, “Matra”, “Ukar”, “Welanti”, etc. This makes Indian languages, different than other languages.

This research project was based on an exploratory study that leads to an optimal keyboard design layout GUI for the North-East Indian Language-Assamese.  During the research,  7’’ tablet screens and 5’’ mobile screens were considered in designing a keyboard layout.

If we compare it to the English language, the Assamese language has more letters. If we place Assamese letters on the same QWERTY keyboard layout, then some letters will stay remaining. And assigning two letters on the same key as per the current scenario, then it is confusing for the user to use it.

Primary Research and observations

Primary research was conducted to get more in-depth information about existing Assamese keyboards and how users use them on tablet and mobile devices. The main focus was on typing speed, Assamese keyboard experience, problems faced while typing conjunction letters, error rate, user comfort, and their satisfaction level while typing, etc to understand problems faced by different users.

Methods used for collecting primary research data are non-participant observation, questionnaires, and unstructured interviews. Although the main focus was on the tablet, but mobile layout screens were considered to see how the experience changes for small screens.

Study of Keyboards and holding methods

During the study, the holding method was studied to understand the interaction between the user's hand and the keyboard. Tablet and mobile holding positions were considered to determine the approach for a new layout design. It has been observed that for typing users mostly use thumbs of both hands. However, the thumb has certain reach limits on the screen. Reach can exceed the limit at certain points, but typing reduces speed and increase the chances of errors.

Redefining research objective

To come up with an optimal keyboard layout design on Graphical User Interface (GUI) for the Indian language using Indic script (Assamese).

1. To analyze optimality of new keyboard design layout as compared to existing Assamese keyboard layouts.

2. Easy to understand for all user

3. Increase the typing speed

4. Reduce typing errors

5. Full basic typing requirement

Proposed keyboard layout

The final design came out from all the concepts and inspirational designs shown in the research earlier. The layout is divided into 2 half-circular parts where all the vowels and consonants are placed on the keys according to their frequency of use.

A testing and evaluation plan was made to collect the data while carrying out a pilot comparative study of 20 participants. The plan was based on 6 usability factors. The error rate, difficulty in finding letters, and difficulty in typing speed were tested on the basis of the usage log and the interface interaction, difficulty in typing conjunction letters, and overall satisfaction with the Likert scale. Three task rounds were set to evaluate the design based on their level of difficulty.

User selection

To select the right users, I did user selection on the basis of two categories. In the 1st category, users only had experience with the QWERTY keyboard to type Assamese and in the 2nd category, users had experience using both QWERTY as well as Assamese keyboards.

Results and Analysis

Future Scope

Due to the limited time duration, the further keyboard development study plan and its visual design part was not done in the current study. That can be a major part to consider for future studies. The more in-depth study of keyboard letter organization and its testing can provide more insights.