Two-Finger Keyboard Layout Problem: An Application On Turkish Language

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new two-finger keyboard layout problem for virtual keyboards, models it as a Quadratic Assignment Problem, and proposes a genetic algorithm solution, specifically applied to Turkish language to improve typing performance.

Contribution

It presents the first formulation of the two-finger keyboard layout problem as a Quadratic Assignment Problem and develops a genetic algorithm to optimize layouts for Turkish language.

Findings

The proposed layout outperforms F and QWERTY layouts in performance tests.

A genetic algorithm effectively finds optimized keyboard layouts.

The approach improves user typing efficiency on virtual keyboards.

Abstract

Smart phone and tablet usage has sharply increased for the last decade. While entering test on these devices, virtual keyboards are generally used instead of conventional hardware keyboards. In this study, a new problem which is two-finger keyboard layout problem and solution approach is presented for increasing user test entrance performance, especially on virtual keyboards. Defined two-finger keyboard layout problem is modeled as Quadratic Assignment Problem. Because of combinatorial structure of the problem a genetic algorithm is developed. Its result is given to mathematical model as initial solution for finding better solutions with mathematical model. Proposed approach is applied on Turkish language. The new two finger keyboard layout for Turkish language is compared with F and QWERTY keyboard layouts based on certain performance measurement techniques.