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A study on the perfect universal button layout
versapak:
The button layout I went with is most like #3, but I have 8 buttons instead of 6.
I went with 8 buttons, because it has an Xbox for its brain, and some games utilize em all. :)
I do like the angled & curved approach though. It just feels nice to me, and since I am the only one that matters for my cabinet, it was indeed a perfect universal layout. ;D
Xiaou2:
I tried a test panel with a curved layout once. Was a disaster. Kept pushing the middle as if it were in the straight layout. Also, since your hand is lying flatter - its harder to make quick presses - as you do not have as good of leverage.
To test this... try to place your hand near flat on the table, and tap each finger in succession - as fast as you can - without raising the knuckles more than 1/4". Now - try again, but use the standard method: bend your fingers at the knuckle, so that the knuckle is almost above the fingertip. Make sure to note how much force you can generate from each way as well. As speed alone will not help if you cant press the button down well.
Another thing to think about as well... most all keyboards are straight. Even the ergonomic ones can not compensate fully for the extended middle finger. We use the bent fingers approach for the most part - and it seems to do a fine job.
SOAPboy:
if i HAD to have that 7th button, id do 5 but with it lined up to the top row..
namedos:
This is a very well thought out post. Obviously you have put a lot of time and thought into this. I could not find examples of the layouts that you referenced. Are they stored somewhere else? Thanks.
krick:
Yeah, I think the post needs some pictures. Even if you made a bad sketch, scanned it, and made it into a greyscale gif, that would work.
Just remember that if you post anything with dimensions larger than 640x480, it will get automatically resized and make it very hard to read. So just do the resizing yourself so it fits within 640x480 before you save it as a greyscale gif.