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The keyboard remains the least economically designed computer device

Conference Paper · November 2015

DOI: 10.1109/EHB.2015.7391585

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 The 5th IEEE International Conference on E-Health and Bioengineering - EHB 2015
Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iaşi, Romania, November 19-21, 2015

The keyboard remains the least ergonomically

designed computer device
Octavian Ciobanu1, Cristian Gavat1, Radu Cozmei1
Affiliation 1: Medical Bioengineering Faculty, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, UMF Iaşi,
Iaşi, Romania

Abstract—Ergonomic devices are often designed to provide This paper takes into consideration the existence of a large
more comfort and to increase productivity but they can also help category of typists with slow typing skills, visually searching
avoid pain and specific injuries. The ergonomic design of a
the seemingly random keyboard, including novice users and
computer keyboard needs expertise in ergonomics and
biomechanics. The existence of a large category of typists with even persons with disabilities and the expectation that
slow typing skills, visually searching the seemingly random ergonomic keyboards have to meet the requirements of all
keyboard, including novice users and the analysis of existing users. Some of them may suffer from learning disabilities
standards and keyboards leads to the conclusion that existing such as dyslexia and dysgraphia which are characterized by
QWERTY based keyboards still remain the least ergonomically difficulties in reading and in writing respectively.
designed computer devices and need to be improved. This paper The first typing machine was developed in 1808. The
discusses the existing standards in ergonomics and the various
QWERTY design is based on a layout created in 1873. The
commercial keyboards and makes observations about the
ergonomic design features and the wrong recommendations of
QWERTY layout was produced in order to avoid mechanical
some standards. key jamming. A lot of alternative layouts were designed
including the Dvorak layout but all these layouts have no
Keywords—keyboard; ergonomics; design; standards;analysis. ergonomic qualities.
There are two major groups of keyboard users. They could
be classified as advanced typists, working with no visual aid
I. INTRODUCTION when typing and typists with slow typing skills which work
searching for keys. An ergonomic keyboard should answer
A well-designed ergonomic keyboard has to provide more
the expectations of both categories.
comfort, to increase text speed entry, and to reduce the risk
A significant number of analyses focusing on the
factors for specific injuries. Ergonomic computer keyboards
examination of keyboard layout showed that for novice users,
might provide improved comfort and should actually allow
both the QWERTY and DVORAK keyboards look like
faster PC activities but these qualities are accompanied by random configurations. This raises the question whether
higher prices and the price may be an obstacle for some users. another configuration can reduce the search time that
Improved design and better ergonomic characteristics, inexperienced typists need to spend in order to find the right
determine the effectiveness and suitability of computer key.
keyboards. The design process of keyboards requires not only The review of standards, the analysis of biomechanics, the
accomplishing ergonomic objectives, but also the balancing analysis of a number of scientific papers and the discussion of
of complexity, versatility and especially of cost. The user some keyboards with advanced characteristics will be used in
must match these characteristics to personal specific needs. order to reach certain conclusions regarding existing
Systematic literature reviews assessing the quality of commercial keyboards.
keyboards and a number of studies testing their ergonomics
II. ANALISYS
showed important design deficiencies in these computer
devices and proposed improvements [1,2,3,4]. Also, some For a device to be considered effective, it should improve
authors [5, 6] found that the alphabetic keyboard determined both comfort and productivity. Certain general design
slightly increased typing speeds. principles for keyboards furnished by ISO 9241-410, EN ISO
Alves, Castro and Sousa [7] showed in a study that from 21 9241-410:2008/A1:2012 and HF-STD-001 are widely
tested users, 10 were identified as slow typists and 11 were accepted as necessary to create an effective and ergonomic
classified as fast typists according to the typing speed of a keyboard.
certain text; while typing, slow typists must construct in mind III. 1 General Design Principles for Computer Keyboards
the representation of what they intend to write, pay attention Main indications for keyboard design refer to:
to the printed letters, plan further sentences, revise the written - Minimizing adaptation time and key positions
memorization,
sentences, and especially pay attention to finding the keys on
- Maintaining ergonomic posture,
the keyboard.
- Avoiding excessive force, vibration, and repetition;

978-1-4799-2373-1/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE

 - Avoiding awkward reaching for mouse; • Smaller keys size of the alphabetic-only keypad are
- Adjustability. more comfortably and efficiently;
Among these design principles, the minimization of • The keys have to be positioned with the „g‟ and „h‟
adaptation time it is the most difficult characteristic to be keys in the centre of the keyboard.
achieved by existing commercial keyboards. For typists with Among these features recommended by ISO and EN ISO
slow typing skills and new users, the QWERTY, DVORAK standards some require particular attention because they are
and all similar keyboards seem to have random configurations in conflict with the performance expectations of typists with
and using them is a time consuming process. slow typing skills and of new users: “the alphabetic section
These old types of keyboards were initially made for of the keyboard has to be positioned directly in front of the
mechanic keyboards and may be considered the least user; the „g‟ and „h‟ keys are usually considered the centre of
ergonomically designed devices. These layouts facilitate the the keyboard, and these should be aligned to the midline of
frequent alternation of the left and right forehand on a the body “ and “keyboards thickness of no more than 30 mm
physical keyboard, with no solutions for further ergonomic at the asdf... row of keys”; but centered g and h keys and the
improvements [8]. The most important drawbacks of the asdf arrangement belongs to the QWERTY layout and it does
QWERTY keyboard are: not represent an ergonomic keyboard.
- Requires all key positions memorization; This means that ISO and EN ISO standards include a
- Slows down the speed of typing; number of recommendations which could not be described as
- Produces mental and physical fatigue; ergonomically.
- Increases the number of typing errors; Human factors design standard HF-STD-001 has
- Biomechanics of hands and fingers are affected with recommendations for alphanumeric keyboards: “Keyboards
disproportionate amount of work. intended for the entry of both alphabetic and numeric
QWERTY and all derived layouts contradict an ergonomic information shall conform to the standard "QWERTY"
principle presented in HF STD 001: systems and equipment arrangement” (9.1.6 Alphanumeric keyboards); “fixed-
should be designed to minimize personnel and training function keys shall be grouped logically and shall be placed
requirements within the limits of time, cost, and performance in distinctive locations” (9.2.4 Grouping). As shown before,
trade-offs (Chapter 2; 2.6.6 Minimize training requirements). QWERTY layouts are less ergonomically because the fixed-
Some potential health issues are associated with the function keys are not grouped logically and all these are in
maintaining of non-ergonomic posture: conflict with the performance expectations of typists with
- Physical discomfort, pain or injury; slow typing skills and of new users.
- Visual discomfort; These examples show that even Human factors design
- Stress; standard HF-STD-001 fails in making ergonomic
- Fatigue. recommendations.
Among the stressing factors, some may be inevitable. Also Parkinson [9] complained that the American National
Stressing factors could be: starting a new job; learning a new Standards Institute gave no chances “to those people who
skill; fluctuations in work flow; emergencies in the work don't now type, but might like to learn if only it weren't so
activities. It is obvious that “learning a new skill” may be hard and time-consuming to do so”.
associated with the difficulties of learning the keyboard III.3 Ergonomic posture and biomechanical studies
layout by typists with slow typing skills and new users. Keyboards activities require repetitive strokes (about
Fatigue is the decrease in work efficiency due to previous 10,000-20,000 keystrokes per hour) and an ergonomic
physical, mental or emotional intense activities. Even the posture. Ergonomic posture for keyboards users consists of
effort to maintain an ergonomic posture for a certain period of thighs and forearms being approximately horizontal. The
time can cause fatigue ergonomic posture may be obtained using an existing
III. 2 Technical Standards regarding keyboards ergonomic chair and a keyboard with ergonomic qualities
ISO 9241-410 and EN ISO 9241-410:2008/A1:2012 which slightly elevates the thumbs and allows forearm
recommend that the conventional keyboard is rectangular and muscles to be relaxed during typing activities.
flat, with alphabetic, numeric and other function keys laid out The objective of ergonomic posture during typing is to
in a generic way. According to these standards, the features avoid strained muscles and contracted joints which determine
that may contribute to the ergonomic qualities of a keyboard low blood feeding and put nerves under tension.
are: Sommerich, Marras and Parnianpour [10] made a study
• Keyboard thickness: maximum 30 mm at the asdf about typing biomechanics, including key strike force, joint
row of keys; and tendon postures and dynamics. Some data obtained from
• Slope of keyboard: between 0° and 15°; this study could be used as training characteristics and used in
• Keys with a matt finish to prevent reflections the rehabilitation activities and for the correction of bad
• Keys with concave or flat surfaces; posture of computer keyboard users.
• Keys with visible printed characters; Perreira & al [11] showed that the contraction of muscles
• Appropriate key force; increases in the left forearm and decreases in the right
• Keys with feedback mechanism to show when the forearm with decreasing horizontal key spacing. Also they
keystroke is successful; showed that the left wrist extension movement increases and
left ulnar movement decreases with smaller horizontal key eliminate excessive finger movement, to avoid wrist
spacing. These findings may influence keyboard standards movement and to improve the hand biomechanics.
and design of keyboards. The conception is original but it needs more improvements
Upper extremity biomechanics in keyboard activities differ in connection with the ergonomic position of letters.
by gender. Wona [12] showed that differences in upper
forearm force, muscle contraction and posture depend on
gender and these differences in biomechanical characteristics
were more evident when computer users were grouped by
highness.
Research clearly confirms that certain alternative keyboards
may improve ergonomic qualities [4]. Also, a recent scientific
literature review assessing the quality of keyboards and
number of studies assessing the influence of keyboards on
users found moderate evidence that “rest breaks and postural Fig. 2 The Keybowl keyboard
training are ineffective and mixed to moderate evidence that
alternative input devices can be effective” [13]. The DataHand keyboard (Fig.3) was introduced in 1995 and
III.4. Alternative solutions for ergonomic keyboard design has two separate modules, one for each hand. Each finger
Ergonomic factors have to be considered when discussing presses five buttons, four in perpendicular directions and a
the design of computer keyboard devices, as well as the central one. The thumb has five buttons to press, one inside
position of components and the postures of users. The and two outside and an up and down button. The modules are
following commercial solutions are presented and discussed: adjustable to fit the user's fingers and each module can be
- Colemak moved in any direction.
- KalQ It seems to be the most advanced ergonomic keyboard but
- Keybowl the position of letters has to be improved as it is based on the
- Swype non-ergonomic QWERTY.
- DataHand
The Colemak keyboard is an alternative to the QWERTY
and Dvorak layouts. It was designed for speeding the typing
in English but has no ergonomic qualities. Users are forced to
memory the key locations.
KalQ it is a virtual keyboard, which uses a split-screen
layout and allows higher typing speeds for touchscreen users
(Fig. 1). It has no ergonomic qualities being based on a
random layout but shows a future trend in keyboards. Users
are forced to memory the key locations.

Fig. 3 The Datahand keyboard

Different alternative keyboards designed to promote neutral

wrist and ergonomic forearm positions are also available. The
ergonomic qualities of the different keyboards layouts will
depend on the individual user and the type of the work
activities.
Fig.1 The touchscreen keyboard KalQ Some small ergonomic improvements were made for
keyboards in recent years and most of them possess
Swype is a predictive text keyboard for tablets and disputable qualities according to both good and slow typists:
smartphones where words are entered by sliding a finger on • Large variety of keyboard layouts (with
the touchscreen. controversial qualities);
This kind of virtual keyboard uses functions to guess the • Rotated keyboards (for rapid typing);
word. It also includes a speech recognition function, and a • Separate alphabetic and numeric keypads (with
predictive text system. It has certain ergonomic qualities but disputable qualities);
the vocabulary is small. • Adjustable slope (to help the wrist);
The Keybowl keyboard (Fig.2) uses two buttons in order to • Keyboards for disabled persons and for users with
type letters and permits the formation of combinations of specific needs;
radial positions of the buttons. The keyboard was designed to • On screen keyboards.
 III. CONCLUSIONS [7]. R.A. Alves, S.L, Castro, L. Sousa, “Influence of typing skill on pause–
execution cycles in written composition”. In Rijlaarsdam, G. (Series
According to several researches, QWERTY based layouts Ed.); M. Torrance, L. van Waes, & D. Galbraith (Volume Eds.),
are the least ergonomically and the keys are not grouped Writing and Cognition: Research and Applications. Studies in Writing,
Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2007, Vol. 20, pp. 55–65.
logically and all these are in conflict with the performance [8]. D.A. Norman, D. Fisher, “Why alphabetic keyboards are not easy to
expectations of typists with slow typing skills and of new use: Keyboard layout doesn't much matter”. Human Factors, 24(5),
users. The literature review assessing the quality of keyboards pp.509-519. 1982.
and the alternative solutions review showed little evidence of [9]. R. Parkinson “The Dvorak simplied keyboard: Forty years of
frustration”. Computers and Automation,; p. 18-25, Nov 1972.
ergonomic qualities in the design of various commercial [10]. C.M. Sommerich, W.S. Marras, M. Parnianpour, “A quantitative
keyboards. description of typing biomechanics”, Journal of Occupational
Until now, only small ergonomic improvements were made rehabilitation, vol 6, No 1, pp. 33-55, 1996.
for keyboards but most of them possess disputable qualities. [11]. A. Pereira, D.L. Lee, H. Sadeeshkumar, C. Laroche, D. Odell, D.
Rempel, “The effect of keyboard key spacing on productivity,
Some ergonomic principles and reported studies clearly usability, and biomechanics in touch typists with large hands”,
show that all QWERTY based keyboards are less Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 56th
ergonomically and need to be replaced. annual meeting, 2012. Pp. 1872-1876.
An important issue is that even Human Factors Design [12]. E.J. Wona, P.W. Johnson, L. Punnett, J.T. Dennerlein, “Upper
extremity biomechanics in computer tasks differ by gender”. Journal
Standard HF-STD-001 and other ergonomics standards fail in of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 19, pp.428–436, 2009.
making ergonomic recommendations because they are based [13]. B.A. Smith, S. Zhai, “Optimised virtual keyboards with and without
on QWERTY layouts. This means that all ergonomics alphabetical ordering - a novice user study”. In Proceedings of
standards have to be revised. Interact'2001 - IFIP International Conference on Human-Computer
Interaction, Tokyo, 2001. pp. 92-99.
According to Human factors design standard HF-STD-001 [14]. J. Tebelskis, “Speech Recognition using Neural Networks”. Carnegie
(Simplicity, Consistency, User-centered perspective Mellon University. Doc. Thesis, 1995, p. 2-3.
principles) an ergonomic keyboard layout should have the
following main ergonomic characteristics:
-The keys to be easy to find and typing should be easy to
learn;
-The layout should provoke minimum errors in typing;
-The layout should maintain an ergonomic posture of
fingers and joints and body;
The future belongs to voice recognition systems [14] which
have theoretically strong ergonomic features being an ideal
speech-to-text solution. Improved performances of voice
recognition systems are difficult to achieve because of
pronunciation that varies from person to person.
It is obvious that the future keyboards will have new
improved characteristics and functions. But until such
changes occur, intermediary ergonomic keyboards need to be
developed.

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