[A12n-Collab] Utilities for analyzing keyboards?

["Don Osborn" <dzo@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In discussing layouts for African languages whose orthographies include 
characters or diacritic combinations not supported by American and European 
keyboards,* and being aware not only of the multiplicity of possible layouts, 
but that various layouts have already been created and some number of them are 
used to varying extents, I'm wondering about the potential value of 2 kinds of 
utilities to analyze layouts statistically:

1) A way of "censusing" character placements on keys on existing layouts - in 
other words a way to enter keyboard layouts into the utility and have it count 
what is assigned to what key, and show what keys have been used for a given 
character. It seems to me that this information might be useful in getting an 
idea of whether there are some emerging consensuses (or people for whatever 
reason thinking in the same lines) regarding placement and arrangements. Such 
data might possibly point to things we hadn't realized or imagined.

2) Even more useful might be a utility to analyze the work of typing with 
different existing and proposed layouts. Say you had alternative layouts for 
Yoruba (or any language). The idea would be a way to have a utility in which 
you could enter the layout information and then put in a text and figure out 
how many keystrokes it takes to enter that text with the alternative layouts. 
In principle, once such a thing existed you could also analyze what fingers are 
doing the work, but the main idea I have of being able to say how "efficient" a 
given layout is in terms of keystroke count for sample (and hopefully 
representative) texts, and so anticipate how it might be received by users.

IMO, one really helpful outcome of any keyboard project at this point in time 
would be the ability to systematically analyze what we are proposing and thus 
take the learning and quality of production up a notch. Perhaps the concept of 
such utilities to do this would interest multiple projects, such as PanAfrican 
Localisation Network, AfLaT, OLPC, .... And perhaps commercial ventures would 
be interested.

I'll cc the ILAT list since some indigenous languages with extended Latin 
character sets presumably have similar issues.

Don Osborn
Bisharat.net


* Mainly "category 3 & 4" orthographies in the system I proposed last December 
on A12n-collab: 
http://lists.kabissa.org/lists/archives/public/a12n-collaboration/msg01059.html