Promoting Fitaly

Great work on Fitaly keyboards.
And my respect and condolences to Jean...
I have a deeper appreciation for Fitaly more than ever.

I find that many people misunderstand Fitaly (all versions). I've used Fitaly Palm, Palm Stamp, Pocket PC, Windows and Tablet PC versions.

I had mentioned to Jean a few years back that, at least Fitaly could be mentioned in the literature for mobile devices and mentioned in review forums.

One reviewer said he could not memorize the layout, but he doesn't get that you don't have to. After almost 7 years of using Fitaly, I really don't know the key layout (except the home row). He also didn't get that you have to stare at the keyboard.

As for the "typical user" -- people that I've talked to don't seem to get it. Perhaps there should be some mini-tutorial included in the program itself that shows how to type basic keys.

Maybe a "follow-me" training mode that shows a word suggestion, then slowly types it out, letting the user type and visualize the word.

I don't think I have memory, dexterity or other skills different from anyone else -- I really enjoy Fitaly and yet many do not know about it and those who do, don't understand it.

Fitaly is also not mentioned at some sites that review input methods.
While this may be superficial, perhaps Fitaly could include different skins or other superfluous (but easy to implement) features to improve the awareness and marketing.

Another idea would be to offer slightly different layouts. Perhaps Vowels could be bold or different color. Maybe the most common keys could change highlighting as you type.
For me, the layout doesn't matter as much, because I have never (needed to) memorize the keys.

BEST: highlight next potential letters using same predictive algorithms (and word dictionary) as Fitaly Pocket PC. I think this may help people get up to speed -- or at least do this for training.

Some people also mis-pronounce the name fih-TAH-ly and not rhyming with Italy.

Dave