While thinking about what a macbook pro touchscreen might look like, I decided there has to be no keyboard, and its display only. This presented two challenges.
1. Ergonomics. Ech. I thought about this while cramped between several people in the tube. I noticed: people under 5.6 are screwed to hold onto one of the handlebars above their heads, people over 6.3, forget about standing straight. People who are overweight, good luck sitting down. The study of ergonomics feels sometimes flawed to me because often the golden rules of ergonomics are based around a particular evolutionary point in humankind (yes, i did just say that), where people were shorter, thinner, more courteous/didn't stink of booze. This is why a mass transit system designed in the 1890s is hopelessly out of touch with the needs of a 2009 city.
So.......I'm ignoring golden rules of ergonomics for now, and focusing on people's behavior. How people use a laptop when they're sitting down (or stretched out on a sofa), where their cup of coffee is when they're writing, how graphic designers interact with photoshop when they need to type something in on a layer. All that stuff.
2. Where do i draw the line: the hardware? the OS? the software?
Honestly, I have no idea, once i started thinking about where a keyboard would go on a touchscreen, I began to think of the elevation of the hardware to decrease any potential wrist strain while typing. So my answer is for now: there is no line. If i treat the product as an entire experience between man and machine and try and answer any hardware/software problems that come out of that interaction, then I think that will help facilitate a good design even more.
Turrah for now, as they say in Blighty. Ok, I've never heard anyone say these things in the UK.
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