Using Notesai
This page is for people who have Notesai keyboards, or have Lomak keyboards set for a Notesai layout and fitted with a Notesai overlay.
The Notesai designThe Notesai keyboard is for people who have difficulty operating the Lomak. It is like the Lomak keyboard but has wider spacing between the buttons in the Alphabet circle.
As well as being particularly helpful to people with cerebral palsy, it also benefits anyone whose pointer control is unsteady. In such cases it significantly improves productivity through reducing the number of errors.
A Lomak keyboard can be fitted with a Notesai training overlay which hides the unused buttons and shows the Notesai key placements.
In case you are wondering where the name Notesai came from, it is a new word that we coined from the most-used letters in the English language.
Two keys (primary and secondary) are placed on each of the buttons in the Alphabet circle, with each primary key (black) being associated with a lesser-used secondary key (coloured). It so happens that the primary and secondary key combinations mainly follow the order of the alphabet, except at the end.
To send a primary key to the computer, just click it and confirm.
Notesai layouts have a Left Shift button on the Left circle, and a Right Shift button on the Right circle. The Left Shift and Right Shift can be used with any button on any circle.
There are no shift buttons on the Alphabet circle.
To send an uppercase primary key to the computer, click Shift prior to character selection, and confirm.
In Notesai layouts, the sequence of clicking A-Shift (right Space) followed by Confirm in the Alphabet circle is used to select the secondary (coloured) character in place of the primary (black) character. The A-Shift key remains illuminated until the next key is confirmed.
The A-Shift (which is short for Alpha-Shift) status can be cancelled by activating A-Shift a second time and going directly to any key without confirming the A-Shift.
To send a secondary key to the computer, click the sequence A-Shift, central Confirm, secondary key, Confirm.
To send an uppercase secondary key to the computer, click the sequence A-Shift, central Confirm, Shift, secondary key, Confirm.
The left Space button acts as a Space key regardless of which Confirm key is clicked afterwards.
The A-Shift button doubles as a right Space key if it is confirmed on either of the outer Confirm clusters. In addition, if you pause on it, it will generate repeated Space characters until you move off the key.
Tab is a primary key. To initiate a Tab command, select the Tab button and confirm.
To do a Back-Tab, select Shift, Tab, and Confirm.
Caps Lock is a secondary key. To lock your computer in upper-case, click the sequence A-Shift, central Confirm, Caps Lock, Confirm. The Caps Lock key remains illuminated while the computer is locked in upper-case.
Repeat the sequence to turn Caps Lock off.
In Windows, the Caps Lock function will toggle on/off if you change the Caps Lock status using any other keyboard connected to the computer.
Backspace is a primary key. To initiate a Backspace command, select the Backspace button and confirm.
Backspace removes the character to the left of the insertion point cursor. To do multiple Backspaces, pause on the button. After a delay the backspace will start repeating. To stop the repeat, move off the button.
Delete is a secondary key. To initiate a Delete command, click the sequence A-Shift, central Confirm, Delete, Confirm.
Delete removes the character to the right of the insertion point cursor. To do multiple Deletes, pause on the button after you have done the A-Shift, central Confirm. After a delay the delete will start repeating. To stop the repeat, move off the button.
