Half-QWERTY 508 Keyboard
by Matias Corporation
A full keyboard with two embedded halfkeyboards lets you type with one hand (left or right), or with both hands, for ultimate flexibility
“…I was blown away… almost no thought required to adapt to typing on it… From the get go, my fingers knew how to type…” – THE-GADGETEER.COM
The ultimate keyboard has arrived.
Built to the highest quality standards, the Half-QWERTY Keyboard™ has the best of everything…
Click here to see the half-qwerty keyboard features at-a-glance
Click here to launch the one-handed typing demo (Opens in a new window. If the Flash movie does not play you may need to download and install free Flash player plug-in)
Ideal for One-Handedness, Hemiplegia, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and other hand-related injuries
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and other typing-related injuries don’t always occur in both hands.
In cases where only one hand is affected, you can type with the other hand, while the injured one heals. Half-QWERTY’s innovative “skill transfer” design makes the transition fast and easy.
Periodic rest breaks should be taken, so as not to risk injuring the uninjured hand.
Use either hand
Note that Half-QWERTY works with either hand. It actually has two virtual Half-QWERTY keyboards – one for each hand. This is done automatically, without instruction from the user.
Click here for examples
One-handed and two-handed typing
With two Half Keyboards embedded into a standard keyboard, you now have the ultimate in flexibility. Type with one hand or two, you decide.
Click here for an example
Mechanical key switches
The Half-QWERTY keyboard uses high-quality Alps mechanical key switches, with enhanced tactile feedback for greater comfort and faster typing speeds.
Hydra Cable
With its unique Hydra Cable, the Half-QWERTY Keyboard works with both PCs and Macs (including older ADB Macs). The Hydra Cable has 4 connectors: PS/2, USB, ADB, and an ADB passthrough for connecting additional ADB devices. Plus: there are no adapters to lose. All 4 connectors are directly attached to the cable, so you never have to worry about lost adapters.
Click here to see a picture of the Hydra Cable
2-port USB hub
For quickly attaching USB peripherals, nothing beats the convenience of an in-keyboard USB hub. No more reaching through the tangle of wires behind your computer to download photos from your digital camera. Just plug it into your Half-QWERTY Keyboard and you’re ready to go. Works great with MP3 players, keyring hard drives, joysticks, and mice too.
International layout support
Non-US keyboards are a little different. They have an extra key in the lower left corner (right next to the Shift key). While the Half-QWERTY Keyboard doesn’t have this extra key (it’s a US layout), it will let you do this key by typing double-Shift-Z. The keyboard can also remap to whatever layout is standard in your country, by simply choosing the desired layout from the appropriate control panel on your computer.
Built like a tank
The Half-QWERTY Keyboard is built around a rugged metal keyframe that’s designed to last. It comes with a 10 year few-questions-asked warranty, but should last much longer.
Blindness
Used in conjunction with a Braille display, Half-QWERTY allows blind and visually impaired persons to read what they type as they are typing it, much as a seeing person would.
How fast can I learn it?
If you’ve never learned to type before, learning Half-QWERTY will take roughly the time it would take to learn standard two-handed touch-typing.
However, if you are a trained touch-typist, you can learn Half-QWERTY in a matter of minutes, with little or no retraining.
Published empirical research has shown that (on average) a touch-typist can learn Half-QWERTY in 1/3 the time it takes to learn a one-handed chord keyboard. Half-QWERTY’s innovative “skill transfer” design makes this possible…
How fast can I type?
“…The first one-handed keyboard that doesn’t require learning a new way to type.” WIRED
With practice, Half-QWERTY typists can expect to reach speeds of between 61% and 91% of those achievable by two-handed typists. Typing speeds as high as 64 words per minute (wpm) have been recorded.
Click here for a speed potential graph
How does it work?
The Half-QWERTY typing technique is very similar to the standard two-handed touch-typing technique…
You place your hand where it would normally be if you were touch-typing – that takes care of that half of the keyboard.
To type the letters of the other half, you hold down the space bar with your thumb and do the same finger movement that you would normally do with the other hand. It’s that easy!
Hitting the space bar alone still types a space.
Half-QWERTY keyboard layout
The relative finger movements used for one-handed typing are the same as those used for two-handed typing. So, if you’re already a touch-typist, you already know them. You should be typing one-handed in a matter of minutes.
Sticky Keys
Sticky Keys is a feature that makes typing modifier-key sequences (e.g., capital letters) easier for one-handed typists, in that you no longer have to type the modifier (e.g.: Shift, Control, Alt) and the key being modified simultaneously. You can type them in succession.
Depressing and releasing a modifier key once makes it active for the next key typed. Pressing it twice locks it until it is unlocked by pressing the modifier again.
Can other people still use my keyboard?
Yes. The keyboard can still be used for two-handed typing. Half-QWERTY won’t interfere.
Relevant Articles and Information
- Matias, E., MacKenzie, I. S., & Buxton, W. (1996). One-handed touch typing on a QWERTY keyboard
Human-Computer Interaction, 11(1), 1-27.
http://edgarmatias.com/papers/hci96/ - Matias, E., MacKenzie, I. S., & Buxton, W. (1994). Half-QWERTY: Typing with one hand using your two-handed skills
Companion of the CHI ’94 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 51-52). New York: ACM.
http://edgarmatias.com/papers/chi94/ - Matias, E., MacKenzie, I. S., & Buxton, W. (1993). Half-QWERTY: A one-handed keyboard facilitating skill transfer from QWERTY
Proceedings of the INTERCHI ’93 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 88-94). New York: ACM.
http://edgarmatias.com/papers/ic93/
Related Products
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Half-QWERTY 508 Keyboard is targeted at the following age ranges:
- Mid Primary
- Upper Primary
- Secondary School
- Adult
Half-QWERTY 508 Keyboard is designed to foster development in the areas of:
- Access to computers
For answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and technical support visit:
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