People talk a lot about user interfaces, designing good interfaces, testing interfaces. I've had my own share of user interface discussions during my career (having done usability testing, product management and reading Jakob Nielson since 1996). Despite the focus on software interfaces, the most important interface is not on a screen, it's the keyboard.
As a creator with words, the keyboard is my one-way input device. It is the human-computer interface where the electrical signals in my head turn into the electrical signals in the computer. The software of language is used in my brain - as well as mimicked in the computer.
Touchpads are on almost every devices today. My laptop has had them for, I don't know, 10+ years, and I've always ignored or disabled them. I tried to switch to a Mac 5 years ago, but the crummy keyboard and forced touchpad sent me running back to my ThinkPad. And here I will state my opinion: the ThinkPad has the best keyboard/human interface hands down.
Before I switched to ThinkPads exclusively, I the keyboards and mouse interfaces physically debilitated my body. I ended up with a problem in my right shoulder, arm and fingers. I went to 10 or 15 different doctors, physical therapists, massage therapists, acupuncturists, chiropractor, etc. Finally, someone was able to make it go away. My point is that the keyboard interface was really bad. The tool maimed the user. I wasn't about to stop typing, so I went on a mission to find a good interface.
This is when I found the ThinkPad. From the moment I put my fingers on the keyboard, I felt like they were sliding into a moist, slick, organic interface. It's something about the shape of the keys, the response of the them. IBM (the original owners of ThinkPad) were known for making excellent keyboards - and it shows. The red button (which is my mouse) is navigated by by right pointer finger - as an extension of my finger on the screen. When I put my finger on that red button, it becomes the mouse on the screen. My (finger) self becomes the cursor on the screen.
Recently the boyf surprised me with a new ThinkPad. I was ready to upgrade from my T61 and had been watching the new ThinkPad models. The T420s showed up one morning with a major improvement: a nubby touchpad.
From the moment I saw this improvement, I knew why I hated touchpads of the past, and why this one was very different. The problem with touchpads (and smooth as glass interfaces) is there is no feedback. Smooth as glass is a one way input device. It can not respond to you like a key popping back to an unpressed state.
But the feedback from nubby touchpad? As your finger moves around, you know where you are on the flat space. On a smooth surface, there is no context. The nubby touchpad reminded me of a research report I read several (10?) years ago, that reported that men prefer a smooth surface to touch perhaps because women's skin is smooth; while women preferred a rougher surface, maybe because men's skin is rougher.
I always watched the user interface for gadget device manufacturers with this in mind. I certainly prefer a rougher surface, in my mind to recieve feedback of my input. I recently switched to an android touchscreen phone from my Blackberry. I must admit the smooth touch screen is very disconcerting. I don't like my finger slipping and sliding all over the glass. And I hate typing hunt and peck with my pointer finger. I learned to touch type 20 years ago.
Perhaps I'm showing my age with my preference to well made keyboards and interface mechanisms that give you feedback. I do know, that a well made keyboard interface can be a pleasure to interact with - and for me, there's no more important interface that quickly allows me to transmit the electronic signals in my brain, to the electric signals in the machine - for easy replication so that you can receive these same electrical signals in your brain, via computer-human interfaces.
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