TwoStick system offers quicker on-screen text entry
by Kyle Orland 
{ Jun 21st 2007 at 5:55PM }
Enter the appropriately named TwoStick text entry system, which speeds up text entry using a 9 x 9 Sudoku-style grid of letters and symbols. The left stick highlights the desired 3 x 3 sub-section while a quick flick of the right stick enters the appropriate letter within the section. This means that every letter is only two flicks of the thumbs away, rather than a potentially slow trek across the entire screen.
After roughly 20 practice sessions, users were an average of about two words per minute faster with TwoStick than standard on-screen QWERTY controller input. That might not seem like much, but remember that every second you save sending that Halo 2 match request is another second you could actually be playing Halo 2. Check out a video of the system in action after the break.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2ez @ Jun 21st 2007 6:01PM
Agreed. But, I think they should use a QWERTY layout instead of ABCDEF for this.
ChuckSteak0331 @ Jun 21st 2007 6:01PM
Um... Not new. In fact the PS3 has been doing that since the begining.
Abscissa @ Jun 21st 2007 7:11PM
I've always hated thumbstick-flicking. That's why I always switch to the DPad in menus. That sort of thing is just too awkward with a thumbstick.
eldee @ Jun 21st 2007 6:09PM
@2: Not really.. Actually QWERTY, while it's what you're used to, is actually one of the most inefficient layouts for input. It's true, because it was designed that way back when typewriters would get jammed from operators typing too quickly. There are much more efficient layouts, but everybody is already used to QWERTY so chances are it'll never change.
eldee @ Jun 21st 2007 6:11PM
Also, here's one of many QWERTY alternatives (although this one is ANSI certified):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard
Gamble20 @ Jun 21st 2007 6:16PM
Who cares if we are "used to it".
If we are used to typing QWERTY instead of ABC then we should type in QWERTY.
Its relaly weird to type something without QWERTY. Because we are used to it? YES, but who freaking cares if its faster its faster.
Mac is better than PC, but MS still has 90% market share.
eldee @ Jun 21st 2007 6:27PM
I think you missed the point, but coming from someone who apparently only posts to start fights, this isn't surprising.
brandon @ Jun 25th 2007 1:06PM
Actually I think this is a really great idea, but I agree with other posters about the layout problems. Not because of qwerty necessarily, but because I never use those freaking numbers or characters. Also, it would be nice if it was a 3 stick layout, with the extra stick like on cellphones, controlling an autocomplete option (maybe use the color buttons for that?)
scott @ Jun 21st 2007 6:50PM
Only two flicks away? Not quite. What about from one edge to another? So it's actually three flicks at most.
@3: You're talking about this like it's something you put your hands on. In the case of a key "board," yes, qwerty has the least efficiency for all fingers, but we're not using all our fingers here.
Rallion @ Jun 21st 2007 7:09PM
@7: You don't get it. From one edge to the other is just two flicks. You don't have to 'move' the selection boxes, they represent the position of the sticks. You HOLD the left stick in the position of the box you want, then you flick the right stick in the position of the character you want.
As for the QWERTY layout, I don't see why that would be good. We're used to TYPING on it, sure, but that's something that's really all in my fingers. I'm not able to actually locate keys on a keyboard any faster than I can locate them in the alphabet, and that's all that matters. More importantly, QWERTY wouldn't even WORK. There are ten characters on the top line, and this system only works with 9 per line.
Stoop @ Jun 21st 2007 7:01PM
Wow chording keyboards using two thumb sticks instead of 2 sliders (like the OrbiTouch)amazing what will they think of next.
Shagittarius @ Jun 21st 2007 7:01PM
"Mac is better than PC, but MS still has 90% market share.
Posted at 6:16PM on Jun 21st 2007 by Gamble20"
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA LOLZ!
MosquitoControl @ Jun 21st 2007 7:04PM
This looks similar to the text entry in Killzone.
Killzone was one of the worst FPS games I've had the misfortune to play. But it's text input was genius. I can't comprehend why it hasn't been ripped off.
tyrhinis @ Jun 22nd 2007 4:34AM
It looks good, but my personal favourite is still the Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory method - a huge ABCDEF... circle, all the letters and some punctuation around the rim. You hold the left stick towards te letter you want and hit green to use it; releasing the left stick returned selection to the centre where the typred output, and the "accept" option, were. Blazingly fast and very cool.
m3mnoch @ Jun 21st 2007 7:57PM
um. who cares? qwerty, non-qwerty. 2 flicks or 3.
it's still dog-ass slow.
i mean, "yay innovation!" but, the qwerty thumbboard rages all over it for speed. the lesser of two evils is not worth the time to debate.
the only text entry i wanna hear about is the text entry that improves upon 1-click, 1-letter.
m3mnoch.
OrganicShadow @ Jun 21st 2007 8:05PM
Killzone used this text input style. It was sometimes buggy as you had to make sure you were pushing the right stick exactly where you wanted it, and a lot of the time you had to hit the backspace a few times, but it was a lot better than what PS3 is using now. It would be easy for them to implement this.
To me, Killzone was one of the best underrated FPS games I have had the chance to play.
dphrygian @ Jun 21st 2007 8:05PM
Didn't Ken Perlin do this a while ago?
http://mrl.nyu.edu/~perlin/experiments/quikwriting/
Yeah. He even had a demo of how it might work on the two-joystick Xbox.
http://mrl.nyu.edu/~perlin/experiments/xq/
Spartacus @ Jun 21st 2007 8:37PM
While Mac has some advantages over PC in a few areas (most notably in graphic design/photo/video editing), the PC walks all over the Mac in many others. The Mac OS is user friendly and as stable as one could possibly hope for, however it is very limited in other areas, particularly for the high end user. Gamers hardly even look at Macs. Programmers and hackers are less interested in them and even blokes such as myself don't care for their oversimplified nature in tasks. Take for example the simple act of importing pictures from a camera. While the Mac does a great job of making the task simple, it does a piss poor job of giving the user any options. What if I only want to import select images? Can't do it, have to import the whole freakin card. File transfers are ust one of the many issues that I have with Macs and why I would never buy one- they oversimplify to the point that the nitty gritty details that I WANT to have control over are buried in automated "user friendliness" BS.
Newer software seems to be headed in this direction as well. Vista lacks a few options that XP had (or that I have failed to locate thus far) and the new Norton Antivirus is so automated it kills me. I can't micromanage hardly a dang thing in Norton now- such as turning certain "safeguards" on or off. Windows Defender has the same issues. In summary, I WANT TO CONTROL MY COMPUTER, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.
Josh L. @ Jun 21st 2007 10:10PM
What's that device called that you plug in, and it translated text from something else?
Whenever there was a post about it, they showed two arrows, and their equivalent in letters (
dmbrandon @ Jun 21st 2007 10:57PM
No one mentioned how hot she sounds. you're all gay
warioswoods @ Jun 21st 2007 11:27PM
Damnit, I'm embarrassed to participate in a Mac vs. PC debate that spawned in complete irrelevance to the main topic here... but I can't let one statement go by unchallenged. (Read past this please if you actually are interested in the topic of this page)
"Programmers and hackers are less interested in them [Macs] and even blokes such as myself don't care for their oversimplified nature in tasks."
Nonsense! I work in a tech department at a major university, and my particular work concerns coding for the web and handling server administration. The members of my department overwhelmingly prefer Macs - even more, those of them whose jobs involve more work at the level of code prefer them fairly unanimously. Macs offer *more* for the advanced user, not less, and that's a common (PC user) misconception that I'm getting tired of. PC's cannot interface with a Unix-based network in the way that Macs can, nor do they allow you to change and control literally *every* detail of the computer from the command line the way a Mac does. So give that myth a rest.
Sean @ Jun 21st 2007 11:35PM
I hope something like this comes to PSP, although it's not that novel, just common sense really.
Rob @ Jun 21st 2007 11:54PM
@16: "Gamers hardly even look at Macs. Programmers and hackers are less interested in them"
Consoles are for games until they get rid of stupid copy protection that assumes it owns your computer when it's a general purpose device or assumes direct network access.
Hackers are interested in the Mac since it's a Unix box, and Cocoa is an elegant way to program. Programmers are less interested in Windows. I'd say 90+% of the good Windows programmers I've worked with won't run Windows at home, it's Linux, BSD or Mac. Only the crappy programmers swear by Windows for anything other than making money.
Spartacus @ Jun 22nd 2007 12:28AM
Sorry guys, I think you misunderstood me, probably because of my poor wording. I meant programmers and hackers on the end user side, ie amateurs. I was making a generalization that the PC usually gets more "homebrew" programs than its Mac counterpart (unfortunately it therefore also gets more viruses). This is however largely due to the amount of PC's in circulation rather as a point of proof for their superiority, much like the PS2. While the PS2 was in no way superior to the Xbox, it remained dominant simply because of the userbase. Now that may seem like I'm making a case for the Mac, but I am not, please refer to my previous post and bulk of my complaint against the Mac OS ;-)
Fantom @ Jun 22nd 2007 4:09AM
they stole the Danzeff OSK from the PSP homebrew developer Danzeff.
http://pspupdates.qj.net/Danzeff-OSK-Source-Released/pg/49/aid/23876
Thlayli @ Jun 23rd 2007 10:27AM
This is very common. PSO announced a similar system by Blue Orb last month.
http://blueorb.com/index.cfm
TRC @ Jun 22nd 2007 7:35PM
Why not make it so that each direction on each stick corresponds to a square? That way, if you were to point NE on the left stick and NE on the right you would end up on 'i'. Then it would genuinely be only two stick movements to get to a letter.
Ashraam @ Jun 22nd 2007 10:07AM
I agree with #24. If I remember right, Rainbow Six 3 used the same system. It's exceptionally quick compared to moving a cursor over a virtual keyboard to select the characters.
You could even use two or more concentric rings if you need to add more numbers/symbols to the layout. Pressing one button would give you the primary character from that position, while pressing a different button could give you the secondary character.
IE- Pressing 'A' while at the B/2 position on the ring would give you a "B" or pressing 'X' would give you a "2".
smallgene @ Jun 22nd 2007 10:42AM
as mentioned by previous people this looks killzone's text entry, but i think it's a tad inferior. killzone had the four letters in each box in the shape of a diamond akin to the controller's circle, triangle, square, and X. which is better is debatable, but this type of text input is (has been) innovative. the ease of use and speed is useful and should become more widespread throughout consoles
Tkkyj @ Jun 25th 2007 11:16AM
Keyboard input on systems without keyboards is a very common problem, so many people are bound to have thought of this before... perhaps at the same time:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9ANJ56VBbjo
I've found that people new to the system can be aided by making this effectively into a "one-stick" method... select the group, click, select the key. select another key from group or (B) deselect group.
sleet01 @ Jun 27th 2007 5:18PM
dphrygian, thanks for linking Ken Perlin's excellent page - the guy clearly does not get as much credit as he deserves, and when I saw this "novel" input scheme, I had to come and make sure Perlin's work got recognized. You beat me to it; good job!
Everyone else: go play around with Ken's site. You won't be disappointed, and you might even learn something!