> On Jun 16, 2024, at 7:09 AM, Joshua Rice via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
> wrote:
>
> On 16/06/2024 11:53, D. Resor via cctalk wrote:
>
>> *snip*
>>
>> The cursor key layout could have been laid out in a more user friendly way.
>>
>> Don Resor
>
> Not a huge amount different to most contemporary machines. Cursor keys were
> notoriously unergonomic before the introduction of the inverted T layout
> present on the DEC LK-201, which became the industry standard keyboard layout
> after IBM copied it for the Model M. Basically every home microcomputer that
> had cursor keys, had them inline with each other in a very unintuitive layout.
>
> I imagine that DEC likely weren't the first to come up with the inverted T,
> even if they were the first to place it on it's own between the main QWERTY
> section and the number pad (which is also unlikely). Is anyone aware of
> earlier examples of the inverted T, or at least similar layouts to the LK201?
> Josh Rice
Great question. Not a direct answer but an example of user friendly cursor
keys: PLATO IV terminals have a main keyboard with some function keys mostly to
the right -- keys with labels like HELP and STOP. There are also operator keys
to the left: plus, minus, multiply, and divide signs. The shifted codes are
roughly like on an ASR-33, for example shift period is exclamation point. No
numeric keypad nor dedicated cursor keys.
Instead, when cursor key functionality was needed, programs would by convention
use the keys surrounding "s" for that, and the keycaps are marked with 8
different arrows. So not just up down left right, but also the diagonals in
between. It makes keyboard-operated graphics editing a lot easier. (These
terminals didn't have a mouse, though they often had an early touch screen.)
So for user friendliness these are hard to beat; the direction away from "s" is
the direction of the movement you get -- even more obvious than "inverted T".
paul
