Evaluating Soft Keyboard Layouts by Using Paper Mockups

Two experiments to compare text-entry were carried out using Soft Keyboard Layouts. Paper mockups were used and we carried out manual timing in a relaxed situation, even though within a classroom environment. Volunteer students were paired and made to work in such groups, serving as participants and also helping out in the timing process. One set of students served as participants at first and the other timed them. They then switched roles halfway and exchanged the tasks of participation and timing. Participants tapped the phrase “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” on each keyboard layouts five times using stylus. The time for word entry was measured and used to determine the speeds; which were found to be 24.8 to 34.3 for QWERTY Keyboard Layout and 11.9 to 14.8 for Opti Layout. We discussed the advantages and shortfalls of the methods of evaluation.