KeyPilot

BIMODAL CONTROL

Bimodal Control / Dual-Input (UI Theory)

Guitar As An Introduction to Bimodal Control Of Software

Consider how the guitar exists as an instrument. The hands are assigned separate tasks.

1. The left hand navigates to the note and sets it up to be played.
   • It moves across the fretboard before pressing down on the string(s)
2. The right hand triggers the note's sound
   • It holds the guitar pick and picks the string(s) according to the timing.

The two activities are interdependent. For the note to be played it has to be set up by the left hand. The left hand relies on the right hand to play the note or it will remain silent.

The Mouse

Noctivagous explains that the mouse's control of desktop computer software should seek out the same principles. As the mouse is used today, it places too much cognitive load on the computer user by combining 1) steering (moving the cursor) and 2) triggering of functionality (clicking things) into a single device and location. It assigns all of that to one hand.

Making these roles distinct, separating them into two input locations that use both hands, provides the user greater control over software. The trackpad can, for example, continue to steer the cursor while the "clicks" occur elsewhere, controlled by the other hand for the first time. An altogether different software dynamic emerges, as shown in the demo above. For the software developer the opportunities in UI theory open up.

Importantly, just one person devised the mouse in 1968, Douglas Engelbart, and it has remained unchanged since that time. Its introduction was an upgrade to the personal computer at the time, but decades later, in many instances, it produces a tedious and tiresome way to work with a computer. Touchscreen tablets did not make it irrelevant. For one, straight-on touch of a screen object is not precise. There is much room for improvement for both style of interaction with a computer and they can benefit from bimodal control / dual-input theory.

The extension exists to promote a UI theory we call Bimodal Control. Steer the cursor with the mouse as before, but activate with keyboard keys instead of mouse buttons. Hover a link and press F to click it, or G to open it in a new background tab. This is fast. It’s called a key-click.

A number of key actions are available besides F. That’s where the power emerges in KeyPilot: a keyboard layout with lots of key-click functions, customizable in the built-in Layout Config editor. It is free and under the MIT License.

The key-click animation on this page shows the gesture: point with the mouse, press F to open, then D to go back.