Steve Jobs, Jef Raskin, and the first great war for your thumbs
a day ago
- The NeXT keyboard (1990) introduced a Command bar under the spacebar, allowing thumbs to control modifier functions, and eliminated function keys and Caps Lock in favor of human-centered design.
- The Canon Cat (1987) featured red Leap keys below the spacebar for thumb-driven text navigation, enabling instant jumping to previous or next instances of a word without a mouse.
- Fujitsu's Thumb Shift keyboards (1970s onward) placed two shift keys where the spacebar normally sits, using software to allow simultaneous or sequential key presses for Japanese input, enduring for decades.
- The rise of trackpads in laptops (starting with PowerBook in 1991) made sub-spacebar keys impossible, as the trackpad occupied the area beneath the spacebar, ending further thumb-key innovations.
- These three experiments (NeXT, Canon Cat, Fujitsu Thumb Shift) are the most important thumb-focused keyboard innovations before mobile typing took over with BlackBerry and iPhone.