A study on the letter arrangement influence on eye typing efficiency

Various letter arrangements were analysed for the virtual Side keyboard developed during earlier studies. The key layout applied there, based on the users' opinions, could have been more convenient. Therefore, two additional solutions were introduced and verified. They were alphabetical and QWERTY-like letter layouts. Twenty participants were involved in the experiment, and the task was to type a sentence with their eyes. One sentence was used for all participants and all keyboards. Several metrics were studied: typing time, speed, and number of mistakes. The obtained results confirmed the previously collected opinions, favoring the alphabetical and QWERTY-like letter arrangements. It was especially visible for people without eye-tracking experience.