ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses ergonomic aspects of computer design and operation and derives suggestions for better, user-friendly designs. It shows that a typical process of solving a technical problem; starting with a hardly workable design, then improving it incrementally and, ultimately, seeking a fundamentally different, truly good solution. Computer technology made long-distance interaction easy. The new technology would have allowed easily relocating keys and redesigning the entire keyboard. Changing the basic key design can have major consequences for the user's efforts and performance. Keyboard design decisively depends on the keys used. Starting in the 1960s, electronics replaced the mechanical innards: typewriters transformed into personal computers. The 1980s saw a wave of computers entering modern offices, sweeping out the remaining mechanical and even the newer "electric" typewriters. Ergonomic innovations will address both input and display to improve the whole loop of feed forward and feedback between computer and human.
