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Typing versus handwriting:  why the "versus," why not "along with"

Students in the class I teach called, appropriately enough "cognitive
engineering," have performed a number of relevant analyses, that
although not of publishable quality, I suspect are valid.

Over the years, several groups in my class have proposed hand-held
portable computers or note-taking devices.  Each has proposed using
both handwriting and typed input (with attached or optional
keyboards).  Their studies of handwriting speeds lead me to the
following conclusions:

1. There is a very sizable proportion of the population* that PREFERS
handwriting.  Some proportion prefers keyboards.  NOTE: the
preferences are often very strong and are NOT always related to
performance data.  That is, take some who strongly prefer input method
A and demonstrate that they are actually faster with method B, they
will not change their preference.  Speed is not the only variable of
concern, and often is a secondary variable.
     ..................................................................
     * The population studied was mostly college students, but included
     some professional engineers and management.
     ..................................................................

2. If the device is hand held, so that one hand is occupied supporting
the device and only one hand is available for input, for a large class
of people, handwriting is faster than typing.

     Note that good typists can still type more quickly using only one hand
     than they can write: I have heard of a typist who only has
     one hand who can go extremely fast (I can't recall the exact figure,
     but 80 wpm comes to mind).  This is rare, but it shows that training
     can compensate, and that one-handed typing is not necessarily slow.
     Nonetheless, many people can handwrite FASTER than they can type if
     restricted to one hand.

3.  A number of years ago I compared novice** typists on a variety of
keyboards: qwerty, alphabetic, dvorak, random.   Performance was about
the same on all of them.  Alphabetic arangement did not help and
random arrangement did not hurt.  And any knowledge of qwerty helped
qwerty, so that arrangement was superior.
     ...................................................................
     ** We tried to get people with no experience at typing, but in our
     environment, this seemed impossible.  So we settled for those who
     claimed they could not type, and whose initial performance was very
     very minimal.  (Norman & Fisher, Human Factors Journal.  A long time
     ago.)
     ...................................................................

We did not measure handwriting speed, but the novices typed around 10
wpm, which is a little faster than claimed for handwriting.


4.  There are specialized input devices that are faster than qwerty
(or even Dvorak).  Chord keyboards, such as court stenographers use,
are better.  Note that part of the speed from a court stenographer
results from the fact that they type a shorthand -- the keys produce
sylables, not letters, and often only the typist can read their own
output (each stenographer has idiosyncratic abbreviations).  Modern
systems feed the keyboard to a computer that, in principle, can
produce printed text on-line.

The learning time on these systems is huge: months and years of
practice are required.  Not for everyday folks.

I have also used other chord systems, some one-handed. They may work
well for special cases, for those who are willing to take the time to
learn them, and then take the time to stay in training.  But I do not
believe these will ever be popular among the general public.

---

What do I conclude?  That each input device has its place.  With
regard to the original question of keyboard versus handwriting, it
would be a mistake to market a note-taking device with only tablet
(handwriting) or only keyboard input.  Sizable proportions of the
population prefer each.  Moreover, I suspect that any individual would
switch back and forth, depending upon circumstances and the nature of
the input material.

BUT, if you are going to include a keyboard:

1. Make it full size (it can fold up to a small size, but it should
unfold to full size)

2. Make it qwerty.   Alphabetically arranged keybaords are an
impediment to most (e.g., the otherwise virtuous Sharp Wizard).
     (Please don't restart the Dvorak wars.  Dvorak keyboards are better.
     But it is too late.)

don norman

Don Norman                         	       INTERNET:  dnorman@ucsd.edu
Department of Cognitive Science C-015	       BITNET:    dnorman@ucsd
University of California, San Diego	       AppleLink: D.NORMAN
La Jolla, California 92093 USA
   [e-mail paths often fail: please give postal address and full e-mail path.]