I have trouble with hitting the wrong key. Especially hitting "b" instead of <space bar> Can you add a feature to make the space between keys larger and the keys smaller (not just make the keys smaller which would make my problem worse).
Thanks
space between keys
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cyril
- Developer
- Posts: 2079
- Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2010 4:02 pm
- Phone: Nexus One 2.3
- Location: Nice, France
Re: space between keys
I will add this one to the FAQ, as it was already asked dozens of times (including in this forum)...
What you need to understand is that there are no "holes" (i.e, areas where typing would have no effect) between keys, and it would be pointless to add ones.
Indeed when you press "g" for instance, the proximity correction algorithm also looks at the adjacent keys to compute predictions. The choice of the adjacent letters depend on the exact location you pressed on, for instance if you press at the bottom of the "g" key, the prediction algorithm will also try words containing 'f', 'h', 'c', 'v' or 'b'.
So adding holes between keys will have no positive effect on accuracy, and even worse, it would break the proximity correction algorithm.
However, spaces (not holes) between keys is something different, it has to do with the visual perception you have of the keyboard. For instance the iPhone skin has smaller keys and more spacing between keys than most of the other skins, that's why people often feel a better accuracy with this skin, but it's only a visual effect (if you type somewhere in the space between keys, the proximity algorithm will still guess which key you wanted to press). Some people claim that accuracy is the best when there is no border at all around the keys, like on the "Black" builtin skin, but you need to figure this out yourself.
So, to conclude, spacing between keys is just a matter of skin and no special feature is required to change this.
The bottom row is a special case, as people usually hit the space bar on its upper part, which can cause unexpected typing on 'v' or 'b' key.
Why? Again, it's a visual problem. As there is nothing below the bottom row, people naturally tend to avoid pressing the lower part of this row; this is especially true on phone with soft action buttons ("Home", "Back", etc), as in that case hitting the space bar too low would cause an unexpected press on the "Back" key, for instance.
That's why there is already a tweak in the proximity correction algorithm, to take this into account, but it cannot work for everyone. A radical solution is to use the "bottom padding" option, which adds extra space below the bottom row, and then makes typing on this row easier.
What you need to understand is that there are no "holes" (i.e, areas where typing would have no effect) between keys, and it would be pointless to add ones.
Indeed when you press "g" for instance, the proximity correction algorithm also looks at the adjacent keys to compute predictions. The choice of the adjacent letters depend on the exact location you pressed on, for instance if you press at the bottom of the "g" key, the prediction algorithm will also try words containing 'f', 'h', 'c', 'v' or 'b'.
So adding holes between keys will have no positive effect on accuracy, and even worse, it would break the proximity correction algorithm.
However, spaces (not holes) between keys is something different, it has to do with the visual perception you have of the keyboard. For instance the iPhone skin has smaller keys and more spacing between keys than most of the other skins, that's why people often feel a better accuracy with this skin, but it's only a visual effect (if you type somewhere in the space between keys, the proximity algorithm will still guess which key you wanted to press). Some people claim that accuracy is the best when there is no border at all around the keys, like on the "Black" builtin skin, but you need to figure this out yourself.
So, to conclude, spacing between keys is just a matter of skin and no special feature is required to change this.
The bottom row is a special case, as people usually hit the space bar on its upper part, which can cause unexpected typing on 'v' or 'b' key.
Why? Again, it's a visual problem. As there is nothing below the bottom row, people naturally tend to avoid pressing the lower part of this row; this is especially true on phone with soft action buttons ("Home", "Back", etc), as in that case hitting the space bar too low would cause an unexpected press on the "Back" key, for instance.
That's why there is already a tweak in the proximity correction algorithm, to take this into account, but it cannot work for everyone. A radical solution is to use the "bottom padding" option, which adds extra space below the bottom row, and then makes typing on this row easier.
Cyril