On-screen Keyboard Review : We Break Them Down
Millions of disabled individuals use on-screen keyboards every day. However, what is an on-screen keyboard? An on-screen keyboard is an application that resides on top of other windows, which allows keyboard input to be passed directly from the on-screen keyboard application to the window below.
There are several brands of on-screen keyboards and each have their own specific features and functionality. Let's take a look at some of them now.
Microsoft default on-screen keyboard
The default Microsoft on-screen keyboard is meant for the bare minimum of accessibility. In fact, when you first open the on-screen keyboard the text tells you that it is only meant to be used as a temporary measure for those that have motor impairments. Therefore, Microsoft never intended for the keyboard to be used for any long-term amount of time.
The on-screen keyboard itself is simple, a small block layout with average sized letters. The colors are the default Windows white and blue and it can be pushed off screen, which is a very handy feature. When you want the keyboard to go away quickly, it is a nice feature to be able to grab a corner of the window and pushed most of it off the monitor area.
There are two default stages, condensed and expanded modes. In condensed mode, the keys are laid out very close together; only the most basic QWERTY keys, function keys, and arrow keys are available. Whereas in expanded mode, other keys such as the print screen, num lock, and number pad appear on demand.
The only way to activate a key press is by left clicking on the key of your choice. Right clicking does nothing, and there is no way to repeat key presses quickly without rapid-fire clicking.
Since the keyboard was designed by Microsoft itself, there are very few, if any, programming conflicts. This sounds like a relatively unimportant thing to mention, but as we would discover in testing other keyboards; conflicts can be a problem.
ScreenDoors
The on-screen keyboard from Madentec called ScreenDoors is one of the most recognizable names in the industry. The color schematic is identical to the default Microsoft keyboard. However, as opposed to the square keys used by Microsoft, the keys on this application are more rounded and can be turned into 3-D keys, which appear to pop up off the keyboard.
The customization of this product is quite amazing. First, a word predictor comes with the program that can help you choose the word you are going to type, which can potentially save the user amazing amounts of time. Second, a built-in dictionary keeps track of the word that you are typing and can suggest different or similar words when you are stuck on a sentence.
In addition, smaller amenities such as capitalizing the first word of a sentence and adding the correct amount of space after each period is done automatically by the on-screen keyboard. Each of these settings is completely customizable in the options menu. The user can set the amount of spaces, which words can be capitalized, the number of words to show in prediction, and so much more.
Identical to the Microsoft keyboard, ScreenDoors has two different modes of expansion one with more keys and one with less. Additionally, left clicking is the way to activate each letter but unlike the default keyboard, this keyboard can continuously press a key as long as you hold the mouse down.
You can operate the keyboard in three modes; clicking, Dwell, or scanning. Clicking and Dwell are rather standard among on-screen keyboards, both require moving a mouse pointer with either the mouse or another third-party device then clicking or hovering over the key of choice. Scanning however is slightly different. When you enter scanning mode each key will light up in a sequential order, you may then choose which key you need to press by which one is highlighted.
During testing, we were unable to find any conflicts between any tested games and the keyboard. However, this keyboard does tend to hog resources. On our test machine loading the word predictor would take up words of two minutes and as far as we could tell there is no way to turn that feature off. If you are someone who could use help with typing and do not use any voice recognition programs, this keyboard is an excellent choice.
We also would have enjoyed this keyboard more have there been features making use of right clicking. Unfortunately, the repeating process of keys also has issues. If you hold down any key on the ScreenDoors on-screen keyboard, the key will be pressed repeatedly but it does not stop immediately upon releasing the mouse.
Madentec offers a free 30-day trial of their hit ScreenDoors application on their website, and the official version costs $295 with a $30 for shipping.
MountFocus
MountFocus is a different kind of on-screen keyboard. As opposed to the normal standardized versions, this on-screen keyboard comes with the ability to customize the keyboard in any way the user sees fit. In fact, there are both developer and user licenses that can be purchased for the software.
Each skin is actually a downloadable file different from all the rest. The look and the colors, even the functionality in some cases is completely different from keyboard to keyboard. The software can be adapted to be used as Touchscreens or regular on-screen keyboards, which is an amazing feature in and of itself.
Since the customization is so completely open with this product, it would be hard to argue that this keyboard could not fit your needs given enough time. A few premade keyboards can be downloaded for immediate use for those who do not wish to design their own keyboard. However, the real power of this program comes in the design elements. Therefore, not designing your own keyboard would defeat the purpose of trying this product.
The shape, size, and even color of each on-screen keyboard is completely changeable. The downside is that the keyboards are mostly larger in the preset variety and there is no way to push the keyboard off screen, instead of minimizing it.
The keys cannot be held down, which means this keyboard will not be useful for playing games that require constant key pressing. With the customize interface as such, we were disappointed but the reason for this is the usability of the code. Instead of using fancy resource hogging programming language, this on-screen keyboard uses more readily available technologies such as .net.
One nice feature is that each key can actually be copied to any position on the board you might need. This means that if there are keys that you use constantly or key commands that you often repeat, a simple drag-and-drop can create the button you need anywhere on the keyword. This is a far superior feature to most other keyboards but again requires the user to design the keyboard or have one designed for them.
The customer support at MountFocus is incredibly friendly and offers free lifetime upgrades once you purchase one of their on-screen keyboards. The prices start out at $15 for a single license or $95 for a developer license with five keyboards included. For those you may wish to purchase more than one for a facility, the price of the keyboards drop as the quantity increases.
MountFocus offers a free 30-day trial which can be found here. If you are looking for a completely customizable interface with every imaginable feature including custom buttons and script macros, this might be a keyboard for you.
Comfort On-Screen Keyboard Pro
Comfort software offers many types of software products aimed at the ease of use for the user who wants complete control over their text. The comfort on-screen keyboard is a very unique product. Customization and functionality is at the top of a list of importance for this company.
We start with 40+ preset skins but not in the way you might be thinking. Normally, a skin is nothing more than graphics or colors. In this situation, the entire layout of the keyboard changes based on the skin you choose. For example, one skin has all of the keys pressed tightly together and another mimics the layout of a cell phone and yet another split the keyboard on two different sides of your screen in a huge arc.
The customization with this package is insane. You can change the color, size, layout, font, font size, functions, macros, and so much more. We eventually settled on the MiniAlphaSmall due to its small compact size, which is exactly what you want for playing a video game. One of the most interesting features that we have yet to see on any other keyboard is that the space in between each key is transparent and of course, that transparency level is customizable, as you would expect.
There are the standard modes of operation being clicking or Dwell but this on-screen keyboard also offers word auto complete, which attempts to guess the word that you are typing as you type it. This is also customizable from between one to 10 letters before the auto complete kicks in. In addition, if you are bilingual, the keyboard switches between multiple languages with a single button push.
One of the most exciting features about the comfort on-screen keyboard Pro is the integration with other applications. This on-screen keyboard has the ability to sense what program you are currently using and while in the application changes the icons of the keyboard to match a function of the application.
For example, while in Microsoft Word, the function keys of F1, F4, F7, and F9 are changed to a help, redo, spell check, and save icon respectively. In the Photoshop program, the letters of the keyboard are changed to the shortcuts of various tools. The list of programs goes on and on, including the Web browser.
The keyboard also offers repeat keys, allowing the keyboard to assist in video games where the movement is controlled by the arrow keys or WASD. The response time is amazingly fast and we could feel no lag time between letting go of the key and when it stops.
In addition, they keyboard offers a gesture feature, which allows specific gestures of the mouse or on-screen keyboard to trigger certain actions.
For example, right clicking on any key is the same as holding down shift and then pressing the key. If you want to hold down one key while pressing another, all you have to do is press the key and then right-click another key, this will lock down that key. This is handy in instances where you need to hold down more than one key at a time.
The downside of this program is really some of the same things that make it so wonderful. The transparent area between the keys can be right-click to bring out the options menu. If you right-click on a key and accidentally drag the mouse off the key, the menu will pop up and keep the key pressed making an awful error noise at the same time.
Additionally, the show/hide keyboard button is very convenient for hiding the keyboard in between its uses. However, often times when trying to click a comma we would hit the button minimizing the keyboard. Although, this is certainly not a game breaking, it is annoying having to go find the keyboard every time you accidentally minimize it.
The Comfort On-Screen Keyboard Pro has a free 30 day trial, available for download now. The cost of the keyboard without any functions but a full lifetime upgrade guarantee is only $9.95. Moreover, the full version of the keyboard with all features included and lifetime upgrades is just $19.95. As with other keyboard makers, there are discounts for buying multiple licenses.
There are conflicts with this keyboard in older video games but we could not find any conflicts with newer titles. Those looking for a gaming on-screen keyboard may find this keyboard to be the ideal match.
Review Conclusions
AbleGamers as a nonprofit organization cannot recommend specific products because of the legality of endorsing the products. Therefore, we encourage you to try all of the products above because they all have 30-day trials. The only way to find the on-screen keyboard for you is to try out as many different kinds as you can.
However, the following table represents our findings as an unbiased third party. Take a look at the recommendations and try every 30 day trial then decide for yourself if any of the programs are worth purchasing or if the standard Microsoft keyboard will work just fine.
|
 |
 Customizable |
User friendly |
Preset templates |
Gaming keyboard |
Features |
Customer service |
Free trial |
 Cost |
|
Microsoft |
No |
Yes |
No |
Sometimes |
None |
None |
No |
Free |
|
ScreenDoors |
Yes |
Very |
No |
Possible |
Good |
Amazing |
Yes |
$300 |
|
MountFocus |
Yes |
No |
Many |
Doubtful |
Fair |
Excellent |
Yes |
$15 |
|
Comfort |
Yes |
Very |
Incredible |
Absolutely |
Great |
Acceptable |
Yes |
$20 |
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Thanks guys, I know this won't be the highest traffic getting article I have ever written but I hope it helps someone. There are so many on-screen keyboards on the market today. We figured a review of the top ones was in order.
And for those willing to read down this far, we are considering giving some of these away, would any of these be something any of you would be interested in if the companies were gracious enough to offer a few licenses?
Microsoft has actually made improvements to the onscreen keyboard in Windows 7. It can be resized, has optional word prediction, and key presses repeat when the key is held.
Also there is another, FREE onscreen keyboard I sometimes use called Click-N-Type which you can find at http://www.lakefolks.org/cnt/. For gaming use, sometimes this keyboard might not work well with certain games, but still worth a try.
Thank so much for this list, I'm always on the lookout for good onscreen keyboards
