Smart Lists™ Technology (Patent Pending)
"Smart Lists™" Technology (Patent Pending) can help you type faster and more accurately. Click on the "Y" key, and it "opens up," showing a list of possible word beginnings. No need to search the keyboard, search word prediction, or search the application to see where you are in the word - just pick the option that best shows the way your target word begins!
Advantages of Smart Lists™ When Using Scanning Input
1. Decreased Work (number of clicks required).
Rationale: Row/column scanning is used to select first letter (2 clicks); but after that, scanning is linear (down the list) so user operates switch once per selection instead of twice (as in row/column scanning). The graph below shows the estimated number of clicks per letter for words of different length for traditional row/column scanning (Control) and for Smart Lists™.
2. Increased Typing Speed
Rationale: Candidate "extensions" which are presented in the list are ordered by their probability. Overall (as many words are typed), this results in increased typing speed. The graph below shows the estimated time spent scanning per letter for words of different length for traditional row/column scanning (Control) and for Smart Lists™.
3. Reduced Visual Scanning and Head Movement
Rationale: The Smart List is presented at the site of the last key selected on the keyboard - i.e., where they were just looking. After that, everything the user "needs" to type the word is presented in the Smart Lists: no need to continually visually search the keyboard, the application you are typing to, or the word prediction window.
4. Reduced Number of Mental Tasks
Rationale: When using a standard on-screen keyboard, users must perform a number of different mental tasks (e.g., remember the letter(s) already typed; identify the next letter; search for and recognize the new target letter; occasionally check the application to see where they are in the word or if the last letter they intended to type made it to the application; and occasionally check the word prediction window to see if the target word is presented). In addition, changing from one task to another task can itself be thought of as a task - and takes time. With Smart Lists, once a list is shown, the user's task remains the same: recognize the option that is most similar to the beginning of the word being typed.
Smart List™ Advantages When Using Point & Click Input
1. Decreased Work (number of clicks required)
Rationale: When using a standard on-screen keyboard with no typing enhancements, one click is required for each letter. Depending on which setting the user has selected, Smart Lists can offer more options than there are subsequent individual letters. For example, "you..." might be offered in addition to its parent "yo..." after the initial "y" is typed. Also, as the user goes further into the word (and especially for long words) Smart Lists is more likely to show multiple-letter candidates and even entire words. Finally, when a word is selected from a Smart List, a trailing space is always added. These three factors have the overall effect of reducing the number of clicks required.
2. Possibly Increased Typing Speed
Rationale: Smart Lists might or might not increase typing speed when pointing and clicking. The answer is complex and depends in part upon: length of the word; how good the user is at processing lists; how good the user is at recognizing the beginnings of words; how good the user is at spatially reorienting to different locations on the display; how accurate and fast the user is when using a pointer; and other variables.
3. Reduced Visual Scanning and Head Movement
Rationale: The Smart List is presented at the site of the last key selected on the keyboard - i.e., where they were just looking. After that, everything the user "needs" to type the word is presented in the Smart Lists: no need to continually visually search the keyboard, the application you are typing to, or the word prediction window.
4. Reduced Number of Mental Tasks
Rationale: When using a standard on-screen keyboard, users must perform a number of different mental tasks (e.g., remember the letter(s) already typed; identify the next letter; search for and recognize the new target letter; occasionally check the application to see where they are in the word or if the last letter they intended to type made it to the application; and occasionally check the word prediction window to see if the target word is presented). In addition, changing from one task to another task can itself be thought of as a task - and takes time. With Smart Lists, once a list is shown, the user's task remains the same: recognize the option that is most similar to the beginning of the word being typed.
5. Decreased Motor Response
Rationale: Once a list is presented, all the information necessary for the user to complete typing the word is restricted to a space the size of the list being presented. Also, the list is physically located at the site that the user last positioned the pointer. In general, the physical movement required to point on the next selection in subsequent Smart Lists is less than that required if the user stayed on the keyboard.
6. Simplified Motor Response
Rationale: Once a list is presented, pointer movement is primarily vertical (up and down) - especially if the user has selected the "Show all items in one list" option.
Smart List Adjustments
You can adjust Smart Lists separately for scanning and point-and-click conditions. Point-And-Click: Try the different options and see what works best for you. If it is hard for you to click, select one of the "Less keyboard" options and increase the number in the "Always display a list..." option. If you like staying on the keyboard longer, check out the "Dynamic Labels" option to see if you like that.
Dynamic Labels™ (Patent Pending)
If you have purchased Smart Lists™, you might want to try the "Dynamic Labels™" feature. Set Smart Lists™ to one of the settings in which you stay on the keyboard for a while before the smart list Appears. You also might want to select a keyboard with wider keys. When you type the first letter "l," Dynamic Labels™ can change the labels as shown below.
After typing an "l" on an alphabetic keyboard (above), Dynamic Labels can be added to the bottom of the key as shown here:
Or, after typing an "l" on an alphabetic keyboard (two above), Dynamic Labels can replace the traditional upper label as shown here:
Dynamic labels might especially help a person who is better at recognizing the beginning of a word than identifying the letter that follows the string of letters already typed (as in standard typing).