[sw-l] An IMWA Keyboard

[Adam Frost]

I thought that that question would come up. It will take me a while to show what I mean, but the way that I ordered the handshape group is not the same way that Val has ordered them in the IMWA. I know that it would make it confusing to have two orders. I am not saying that it should be the way that I am suggesting. It is just a thought.
Having said that, I will try to explain how it is that I ordered the handshapes. They are separated into 5 group, rangeing from no active fingers to 4. Thumbs are not finger for this purpose. Thumbs are accessed by the variation command key which would be located on the number row with the other function command keys. I hadn't put those on because I wanted to leave room for some thinking. The lanes was there to work with the placing in lanes, but now that I think of that again, I am not liking the idea.
I had seen the keyboard that Val has which is why I looked into other ways that the keyboard could be laid out. The main reason for exploring the idea was because there are very few places for function keys and it takes several keystokes to get the symbols needed. I know that Group 5 has 50 handshapes, but there are 46 keys that can be used. I think rather than spliting the group, the symbols that is more should be access by shifting.
I know that this is a long a vegue explaination, but that is why I was bouncing the idea for some feedback.

Adam

PS Thanks for the comment about the image.php. And thanks for the SignText. I am and will be using it a lot.

-----Original Message-----
From: "Stephen Slevinski" <slevinski at signwriting.org>
Date: 12/14/04 07:19 PM
To: sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
Subject: RE: [sw-l] An IMWA Keyboard

Hi Adam,

A few thoughts... The 5 finger hand group (Group 01-05)  contains 50
symbols.  Instead of combining this group with another, it should probably
be split.  This is what Val has done when she designed a keyboard layout for
the IMWA (sss-2004).  She divided this group into 3.  She also uses the top
row number keys for additional space.

If you have not already, you may want to compare and contrast with her
design.

View the document online:
http://www.signwriting.org/archive/docs2/sw0123-SSS-2004-Keyboard.pdf

I see that you have "Lanes" on the keyboard.  How would you have that work?

What about the special SignWriter commands: mirror, variation, fill, and
rotate?

-Stephen

PS - On your page, I see that you are using the image.php script to create
SignWriting.  Looks good.

  -----Original Message-----
  From: owner-sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
[mailto:owner-sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu]On Behalf Of Adam Frost
  Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2004 3:40 PM
  To: sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu
  Subject: [sw-l] An IMWA Keyboard


  Hello all!

  I have placed on my website the set-up for a keyboard for the IMWA.
http://www.freewebs.com/frostvillage/mysignwriting.htm This is just a
thought of how it could look. I know that I will have to explain how I have
merged groups. I might have to do that at a later time. The reason for it is
so that there is enough room for the function keys on the home keyboard
while keeping at minimum the keystokes to get a desired symbol. Right now it
is only two to three keystrokes. Any thoughts?

  Adam


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