FingerWorks iGesture Mini Zero-Force Keyboard - Detailed Specification Sheet

IMAGE GALLERY
	Oblique View Overhead View with Hand Shown with Laptop Overhead View

The iGesture Mini is a stand-alone user interface that includes a complete QWERTY keyboard, standard mouse, and our full single-hand gesture set. The Mini completely replaces your existing keyboard and mouse with a much smaller package that packs a lot more power and capability. Gesture input on the Mini works equally well for left- or right-handed users since the Mini’s gesture recognition software easily detects which hand is being used.

Want to save desk space? Need a small keyboard that's easy to clean? The iGesture Mini Keyboard is great for applications where two-handed touch typing is not the norm. The Mini can be mounted on a wall or just about anywhere for easy access.

What’s truly amazing about the Mini is that key, mouse, and gesture input all occur in the same overlapping area of the MultiTouch surface. This means that when you switch between typing and mouse, for example, you don’t have to move your hand to grab the mouse since it’s always under your fingertips. This benefit is only fully appreciated after using the Mini for a few minutes. See a demo of the gesture set capability here.

The Mini’s surface is more than big enough for mouse and single-handed gesture input (click here for an full size printable image (116k)). While the Mini’s keys are only about three-fourths as large as those on a regular keyboard, it still permits multi-finger typing. Two-finger typists, one-handed typists, and small-handed touch typists should immediately feel at home with the compact key layout.

How to Use the Mini

HEALTH WARNING: If you experience symptoms such as persistent or recurring discomfort, pain, throbbing, aching, tingling, numbness, burning sensations or stiffness in your hands, arms, shoulders, neck, or other parts of your body when using a computer, DO NOT IGNORE THESE WARNING SIGNS! PROMPTLY CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR OR PHYSICAL THERAPIST. Ask them for guidance BEFORE trying any new input devices! Remember that pain is likely to increase during the first few days of trying a new device because your body tends to tense up as it is learning new motions and postures. You may also be more susceptible to further injury during this learning period. For this reason, your doctor will probably tell you to restrict use of new devices to short periods of a few minutes a day for the first few days or weeks while your body adjusts!

• General Typing:
  Tap each key's symbol lightly but crisply with one finger at a time. Do NOT bang on the keys. Try using the minimum force possible.
• Hand Resting:
  To rest a hand without activating keys, drop ALL FIVE fingers SIMULTANEOUSLY anywhere on the surface.
• Hunt & Peck Typing:
  Tap each key's symbol lightly but crisply with one finger at a time, taking care not to accidentally tap unintended keys. (It may be easiest to float your hands above the surface while typing, but rest them during pauses).
• Typematic:
  To activate 'typematic' or auto-repeat, lift all fingers of a hand off the surface, then touch and hold one finger on the desired symbol. Once that key starts repeating, you can drop the other fingers back onto the surface. To stop typematic, lift any finger off the surface.
• Modifier Chords (Shifting):
  Reaching for the Shift keys can be even more awkward on a touch surface than on a normal keyboard. Therefore we invented a much more comfortable, zero-reach alternative called Modifier Chords that you'll probably want to learn:
  • When ready to capitalize a letter, just drop and hold 4 fingertips from one hand (excluding the thumb). This is the Shift chord.
  • Type the letter to be capitalized with the opposite hand.
    OR:
  • Lift one of the 4 fingertips from the Shift chord and use it to tap the letter (while the others stay on surface).
  • Lift all 4 of the fingertips off home row. This turns off Shift.
• The timing is really the same as a regular Shift keys. You're just holding 4 fingertips down instead of reaching with your pinky. Modifier chords are also just as flexible as modifier keys:
  • Spreading the 4 fingertips wide as you drop them on the surface activates the Ctrl chord, which works similarly. On Macs this will be the Open Apple/Cmd modifier.
  • To type whole words uppercase with a single Shift chord, just make sure at least 1 of the 4 fingertips remains on the surface as you type desired letters. (Lift one or two of the 4 fingertips at a time to reach for keys, and leave them down as they drop on target keys).
  • Shift-click can be done with modifier chords by holding the Shift chord with one hand and tapping 2 fingertips with the other hand.
    • OR: Shift-click within one hand by dropping 4 fingertips, then lifting and tapping 2 of the 4 simultaneously.
  • Be careful not to roll the 4 fingertips as the Shift chord begins or you will get scrolling instead.
  • When you want to rest a hand, make sure to drop all 5 fingers simultaneously. Resting just 4 fingers may be interpreted as a Shift chord.
  • Regular modifier keys are still needed for multi-modifier hotkeys like Ctrl-Alt-Delete. Make sure the fingers come down on the Ctrl and Alt keys one at a time--if they strike simultaneously they could be misinterpreted as a two-finger click.

Relax and rest frequently.

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