(01-01-2015 09:35 PM)Gene Wrote: [ -> ]The operators in the 2nd column looks most un-natural to me. IMO, they should be on the right ala HP 41 style if you have the column of keys on the left ala HP 42S style as shown.
And this is a very strong dislike.
I agree with Gene here.
I very much appreciate the WP 43s and 34s projects (actually, having learnt about them only recently, I am quite excited about them and might even help in their further development at a later stage (no time for it right now, unfortunately). I also like much about the WP 34s keyboard layout, although having some background in user-interface-design as well, I think, that there's some room for further improvement without adding clutter. However, I'm afraid, I don't particularly like the current (early?) proposal for the WP 43s keyboard layout (except for the softkeys idea).
IMHO, the highly important numeric keypad should be in the center of the lower section of the keyboard (sort of in the center of "gravity"), with the main operator keys to the right and the modifier/navigation keys to the left. After all, if this project should become a success beyond the group of die-hard-fans of old HP calculators, we should IMHO try to keep some of the true benefits of HP calculators (f.e. ENTER key), but we certainly don't need to deliberately deviate from the basic layouts found on most any modern calculators, including HP ones, just to be different... People might be willing to "cope" (in their view) with RPN and an ENTER key rather than having brackets and "=", if the "product" is otherwise convincing enough to give it a try (and they might thereby become RPN supporters as well), but I doubt anyone not already used to it (including many who do love RPN already) would be willing to accept the operation keys on the left side of the digits.
Deviating from most HP calculator keyboard layouts, I would rename the [EEX] key into [EXP] and move it to the current position of the [R/S] key (that is, right next to the [.] key). This is where the key is found on many other calculators, and given that, like [.], it is directly related to numeric input (and at least in theory could also be used in other bases than 10) it is also a "natural" place for this key (even more so than "+/-" which is also found in this location on many calculators). "pi" and "e" should be located on shifted positions of the [EXP] key, as seen on many other calculators. In alpha mode, [EXP] in this position should possibly return a space (" ").
(On the WP 34s I very much like the location of the [f]+[IP] and [g]+[FP] shifted functions on the [.] key, but the rarely needed [h]+[./,] toggle could be replaced by a toggle between "ab/c" and "d/c" modes, thereby freeing up two positions in the top section of the WP 34s keyboard. In alpha mode, [.] could return a "," (perhaps swapped with "." depending on the status of the [./,] flag).)
Like the [R/S] key, I would move the [XEQ] key out of this area of the keyboard, as IMO it does belong there more by tradition than by function - both keys would just as well fit nicely into the upper half of the keys. The former [XEQ] position combined with the two up/down arrow keys could become three modifier keys, which combine the functionality of up/down with the [f]/[g] modifiers (and possibly more), so that we no longer need the [f]/[g] (and [h] on the WP 34s) modifiers in the upper part of the keyboard, thereby freeing up two (three) keys.
(On the WP 34s, [CPX] could move into the now free position of the [EEX] key in the ENTER row.)
The [A]/[B]/[C]/[D]/[E]/[F] keys, which are also digits in alternative bases, are important enough not to be split over several rows, they should therefore be located in a single row. In order to avoid confusion, they should match the corresponding character positions in alpha mode.
(Sidenote regarding WP 34s: As far I as see it, on the WP 34s, the [f]+[HYP] and [g]+[HYP] assignments are unnecessary, as the [>] prefix key could also function as a "HYP" prefix for them (by [>]+[f]+[SIN], [>]+[f]+[COS], [>]+[f]+[TAN], and ASINH/ACOSH/ATANH could also be reached by [>]+[g]+[SIN], [>]+[g]+[COS], [>]+[g]+[TAN]). This would allow us to move the SIN/COS/TAN functions leftwards by one - as it's a bit odd to not start the SIN/COS/TAN sequence in column 1 or 4. With [CPX] moved into the ENTER row to the position of the former [EEX] key, and the [f]/[g]/[h] keys combined into the three up/down-keys column, the [>] key could move to the former position of the [h] key, so that the whole top row could become function keys, and we could possibly add [A]SEC[H]/[A]CSC[H]/[A]COT[H] or have room for often needed x^3 and 3rd_root(x) functions. Perhaps, [>] could even have multiple prefix states, so that we could make missing trigonometric functions VSIN/CVS, VCOS/CVC, HVS/HCVS, HVC/HCVC, EXSEC, EXCSC, and CRD available as well.)
Greetings,
Matthias