Various attempts of replacing the QWERTY keyboard have usually met very limited success when applied to the design of a keyboard meant to be used with ten fingers: The most famous alternative, the DVORAK keyboard, for example, is only marginally used.

The situation is radically different when the pattern of usage is one of entry a character at a time, with a single finger, with a pen, or with some equivalent device:

	On-screen keyboards require looking at keys
	First, there is the fact that an on-screen keyboard will always involve looking at the keys on the keyboard. This is very much unlike the practice of touch-typists on a ten-finger keyboard. But the ten-finger knowledge of a keyboard is built into the reflexes of the typist and it does not translate necessarily into a knowledge of where to look for each consecutive key. Consequently, there is hardly any mnemonic advantage in carrying the practice of the QWERTY layout for on-screen keyboards.
	Pen or finger travel becomes an issue
	On a ten-finger keyboard, most finger travel is vertical - that is, in the natural direction allowed by the finger joints - and very limited. On the contrary, with a one-finger or pen entry, minimizing travel - in particular, horizontal travel -, becomes a dominant concern.
	Hand movement is even more an issue
	Finally, hand movement, which is almost absent in a ten-finger keyboard becomes even more disruptive than finger travel when dealing with a one-finger or pen entry

The Fitaly keyboard provides a solution for the above problems. It is ideally suited for touch screens, pen computers and miniature keyboards: It minimizes pen or finger travel as well as hand travel.

While the input speed cannot be expected to reach that of professional typists on traditional keyboards, it can reach that of many average typists, and even better when combined with the Instant Text Technology.

The versions of Fitaly that are currently available are shown below. Click on the keyboards for more information.