Created by Blake Watson. Based on the "Improved Chubon" layout in KeyStrokes, itself based on the research of Robert Chubon in 1988.

Chubon Keyboard is a profile for use with HippoRemote Pro, a remote control app for iPhone that connects to your Mac, Windows, or Linux computer. It was designed for efficient one-finger typing. The Chubon layout places the more commonly used keys toward the center of the keyboard to reduce the distance your finger has to travel.

For now, you'll need to download the profile from Github and follow HippoRemote's instructions for syncing profiles with Dropbox. Hopefully, it will be added to the user-created profiles within HippoRemote soon.

This profile won't be ideal for everyone. People who have severe weakness but retention of their fine motor control might find HippoRemote with the Chubon Keyboard a useful alternative to the traditional keyboard.

The Chubon Keyboard profile consists of two panels: the Keyboard and the ArrowPad.

The Keyboard is an overlay panel that has a set of lowercase and uppercase letters as well as a spacebar and return key and numbers 0-9. It also includes the following set of characters:

• period
• comma
• question mark
• exclamation mark
• colon
• semi-colon
• single prime (apostrophe)
• double prime (quotation mark)
• underscore
• @ symbol
• hyphen
• tab character
• asterisk
• ampersand
• dollar sign
• forward slash
• pound sign
• opening and closing parentheses
• greater than and less than characters
• plus sign
• equal sign

Being a HippoRemote profile, it isn't possible to simulate the shift key. For this reason, all uppercase letters are included as separate keys, essentially appearing as two keyboards---capitals at the top and lowercase at the bottom. I realize this isn't ideal, but it is a limitation of HippoRemote profiles (in defense of profiles, they were never intended to simulate a full-on keyboard).

Another limitation of the keyboard is the lack of feedback on key press. It isn't possible to play a clicking sound or provide iOS style visual feedback. However, the keys are highlighted on key press to provide at least some sort of feedback.

The ArrowPad is a standard controlpad panel that provides some options for working with text without having to use the mouse:

• Arrow keys for moving the cursor around
• Word by word cursor navigation
• Left and right text selection keys (by word and by character)
• Copy and paste buttons
• Space, return, and backspace

These functions allow you to make corrections and edits to text.

Currently, the only extra is a button that runs the Alfred keyboard shortcut. Alfred is an app launcher and more and works well with the no-mouse philosophy. It is available on the Mac App Store.

More extras may come.

This profile was designed for Mac. The Keyboard panel should also work with Windows and Linux PCs, though I haven’t tested it. The ArrowPad mainly works with Mac, as the text selection functions make use of the Command key. That said, you could use HippoRemote's built-in profile editor to change the key commands. Note that you need HippoRemote Pro (as opposed to LITE) in order to use profiles.

The essential goal of the Chubon Keyboard profile is to make one-finger text editing easier. The Keyboard panel is for writing and the ArrowPad aids in editing.

That said, the broader goal of the profile is to limit the need to jump between mouse and keyboard. To that end, a future update could be a panel that aids in navigation between apps. There are some challenges to overcome there, but if it could be done it would align well the the intentions of the profile.

As a person with a severe neuromuscular disease, I eventually lost the strength needed to type on a traditional keyboard. I began using KeyStrokes, the excellent onscreen keyboard for Mac. It's an essential tool in my setup but for longer form writing, pointing and clicking was tedious and time consuming. I came across HippoRemote on the App Store and discovered that it was quick and easy to use the iPhone's tiny keyboard to type directly on my Mac. But I soon realized that the QWERTY keyboard layout was very inefficient for one-finger typing. I trained myself to use an alternate keyboard layout on my onscreen keyboard called "Improved Chubon." After a quick learning curve, I noticed a significant speed boost in typing on the onscreen keyboard. But it still was not as fast as QWERTY on HippoRemote. The idea to create a "Chubon" keyboard layout on HippoRemote was born.

For more information about Robert Chubon's research, see the following references:

• An enhanced standard computer keyboard system for single-finger and typing-stick typing. (PDF)
• Efficiency of the Chubon vs. the QWERTY Keyboard

I make websites and play with WordPress. I have spinal muscular atrophy type 2. I'm a volunteer web designer with Stop SMA and I blog about disability topics on I hate stairs. Feel free to follow me on Twitter (@blakewatson).

If you have any questions, message me on Twitter or email me at [email protected].