Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Bad designs: part IV


This time I present two computer keyboards that have one misplaced key.

In the first one, the place usually occupied by the space bar is divided in two. Then we have the backspace key on the left half and a shorter space bar on the right half (see picture above).

When I am typing a text in my computer, I usually hit the middle of the space bar with my thumb. Thus, when I am using that keyboard, the backspace key is frequently pressed too. When this mistake occurs, the letter previously typed is erased. Then, I waste time retyping it and pressing (in the right way) the space bar again.

In the second keyboard, the power key was placed right below the delete key (see picture below). As delete is one of the most frequently pressed keys on a keyboard, the risk of an inadvertent user pressing the power key is relatively big. When that happens, the computer starts the shutdown process. All my friends that have this keyboard model have already pressed the power key instead of the delete key at least once. Usually, after the second time they commit this mistake, they disable the power key in the computer setup.


No comments: