SKIP 0.1

SKIP version 0.1 (Software Keyboard for Impaired Users; in Italian: Tastiera Software per Utenti Disabili) is the first prototype of a software keyboard for improving the efficiency of typing in languages with transparent orthography (i.e., languages with highly regular correspondence of orthography and phonetics) by impaired users or non-expert users. To this aim, a powerful orthogonal framework has been used in which the keyboard is defined as a 2-D regular array of keys, so that the number of pressed keys and the key access time are significantly reduced. In fact motor-impaired users (as well as non-expert users) can fast and intuitively input any possible combination of pseudo-syllables, which are text entry units with simpler consonant-vowel phonemic structure. Further speed improvements are obtained with the cooperative use of Word Prediction tools that are directly interfaced with the software keyboard. The tests performed suggest that SKIP can represent an efficient tool assisting typing impaired people.