Got me over my fractured wrist injury

When I fractured my left wrist (I am right handed), I had to undergo surgery and was in a cast for 8 weeks (still in therapy). Since I am a computer professional, typiing is of key importance. I immediately tried voice recognition software. Even though I am a native English speaker with no regional accent (unless you consider California Bay Area regional), the recognition was painful. Had to alter speech patterns and needed to wear a headset as built in Mac mic had issues with the software.

Then, I found out abou one handed keyboard in the MacApp store. Downloaded immediately (version 2.something). While I got the mirroring working pretty quickly with my right hand, it was intermittently successful. In conversations with Peter (the software author), he educated me on the v problem with the right hand. I was reaching for the N key but really, the way the keyboard is slanted, the key I should be reaching for is the M key. With that adjustment, my accuracy went up. Then the next problem was that the word matching wasnt the one I was looking for. This was an extra problem for me because the popup list that shows you the words that matched wasnt showing due to my multiple monitor setup (Peter has fixed in latest version). Also, the newest version shows the most frequently chosen word as the top match (a feature I suggested to Peter).

Peter has been extremely responsive and helpful from a listening to suggestions perspective. This latest version (which ironically Peter shipped just as I was getting my cast off) has incorporated all of the feedback that I and others have given Peter and I would say its probably 98% accurate now. At least for normal typing of documents and emails. If you are a software engineer (like me) using computer langauges or other profession with a lot of terminology or symbology using punctuation marks, the software wont help in those situations. However, this is way better than using dictation software (I normally type close to 80WPM with two hands, I think I probably got to about 40WPM with one hand, which is also kind of ironic). The trick to accuracy is to NOT look where you are typing but look at the top of the popup list that is showing what the software is matching. That is how you can confirm if you are assembling the correct word and if the correct word is in the list. If its at the top, just hit spacebar to go to next word or if its not at the type, cursor down th the right word and hit spacebar. With that, the word should show at the top of the list the next time you type that key sequence.

While I no longer need th software, it really help me get through a rough patch. I will keep the software and keep updating it just in case, hopefully I wont need it again.

Shmonkee about One-Hand Keyboard: Free One-Hand Typing