Half-keyboard

{{Short description|Specialty keyboard}}

A half-keyboard is a specially designed and programmed keyboard used in limited space situations or when the typist needs a hand free to answer the phone, hold documents, etc.{{cite book|last1=Morley|first1=Deborah|last2=Parker|first2=Charles|title=Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow|date=2013|publisher=Cengage Learning|location=Boston|isbn=9781133190240|page=665|edition=14th|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6cEKAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA665|accessdate=24 November 2014}}

The "Half-QWERTY" keyboard, invented by Edgar Matias,{{cite journal|last1=Matias|first1=Edgar|last2=MacKenzie|first2=I. Scott|last3=Buxton|first3=William|year=1993|title=Half-QWERTY: a one-handed keyboard facilitating skill transfer from QWERTY

|journal=Proceedings of the INTERCHI '93 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems|pages=88–94|url=https://www.billbuxton.com/matias93.html|isbn=90-5199-133-9}}[https://register.epo.org/application?number=EP90912914 Patent claim] (filed 1991-03-21, expired 2011) consists of only the left-hand half of a normal QWERTY keyboard, but when the space bar is held down, it switches to the right half of the keyboard, allowing a person to type with only one hand.

It is said to be quick to learn, because human bodies can easily replicate one motion on one side to the other side, and almost as fast as a normal keyboard.{{cite book|last1=Lawrence|first1=Elaine|last2=Pernici|first2=Barbara|last3=Krogstie|first3=John|title=Mobile Information Systems|date=30 August 2004|publisher=Springer Science+Business Media|location=New York|isbn=9780387228518|page=332|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sudG4jcPjYcC&pg=PA332|accessdate=24 November 2014}}

Also a standard keyboard can be used with a special keyboard driver software as half-keyboard for temporary or testing use, as the physical layout does not differ.