Computer KeyBoard Usability

Computer KeyBoard Usability

A couple of days back I was at my friend's to check out a PC game. The game wouldn't work thanks to all that Greek (DX, 3-d accelerator cards etc etc) we couldn't install and play the game. And I said 'ok i wanna check my mail, can you connect your PC to the net?' He did. And I wanted to blog as well. As I was typing away furiously I found to my surprise that I was making uncharacteristic typos. I was hitting some other key instead of 'Delete' I don't remember which key... and I realised that this keyboard was slightly different from the one I had at home. Why can't they follow some standard there? I think the trouble is with the lesser known brands. The IBM, MS keyboards are easy to work with... but the usability is only relative. If you ask me if I am satisfied as a user... I'd say not entirely:

The keys are so close to each other that I keep making typos

I am not a 'trained' typist. I don't think many are

A wrong key stroke means a mistake while buying a book on a site. It is a waste of time

What I'd like to see is standard keyboards irrespective of brands. Also, maybe a bigger keyboard -ergonomically designed- that helps me type at ease and lets me make fewer mistakes (you can never be perfect)... OR maybe a completely new/radical input device... my small mind can't think of one right away. I counted while I typed this article. I made seven mistakes (as far as I could quickly.. ohhh! make that 9) And I realised a strange thing: When I make a mistake while typing a word, say I hit the wrong letter ('D' instead of 'F') I delete the whole word and re-type it all over again... it happens so fast but. Do you do that too?

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