Re: News from the 43S Message #35 Posted by Bill Carter on 3 July 2013, 4:16 p.m., in response to message #1 by Walter B
Wow, that looks very nice! A few thoughts/questions, for what they’re worth.
I would definitely NOT swap 1/x with y^x. I use 1/x almost as a data entry key such as +/- or EEX as well as after calculating a significant denominator. Plus, from a symmetry standpoint, y^x belongs next to x^2 rather than “diagonally adjacent” if you see my meaning.
Are D.MS and H.MS duplicative, or am I misinterpreting? Assuming .d is the reverse of D.MS, the “forward” and “reverse” functions are already nicely arranged at the top, and H.MS can be deleted.
I agree with some previous comments on the %+ and %- functions not being deserving of keyboard space. If H.MS is eliminated, the typical % could replace it right next to delta%. If %+ and %- give up their spots, Cy,x and Py,x might be good replacements. Anybody for HMS+ and HMS-?
I also agree that pi seems kind of lonely, but I can’t offer anything better without giving something else up. My only thought is putting pi where the x-to-location swap is (the yellow function on the J key). There isn’t another logical location for this x-swap, so such a move would probably relegate it to off-keyboard status. I use x<>y a lot but only swap to other locations in programs. Losing keyboard access to it wouldn’t be a big deal to me, but others might not see it as a good trade to fix (at most) a minor nitpick.
Is the door fully closed on leaving the function keys blank? The F1 … F6 labels aren’t really mnemonic of anything, and blank keys could give a cleaner look.
The constellation of i, sigma+, and R/S draws my eye from a usability standpoint. Two thoughts are that sigma+ might be nice on the other end of the row or swapped with R/S. At the right end of the top row (basically rolling this row) it’s next to i. Both are keys that when used at all are likely used in repetitive succession. Swapped with R/S, sigma+ would be next to the + key. That way the short, easy reach is for the key that might be used repetitively in succession (sigma+) and the longer reach is for the key that might lead to a final result (R/S).
Also looking forward to the hardware-- even without fixed keys for logs and trigs ;-)
-Bill
|