Thank you for loading ATOMIK Keyboard.  You will not see this help file the next time you load the skin, but you can always view it by selecting Menu | Options | Skin-specific help.

The layout of this keyboard has been optimized by IBM researchers for both speed of typing and ease of learning.  The hexagonal shape is chosen for efficient use of space and ease of tapping.

You will notice that the keys (in the portrait screen layout) are arranged in approximate alphabetical order, so you can look for letters early in the alphabet in the top right and letters far down in the alphabet in the lower right.

The space key is the blank hexagon in the middle of the alphabetic area.  It is surrounded by letters that make up a number of common words and letter combinations like 'the', 'top', 'is', 'in', 'ing', 'end'.  Remembering the locations of these words will help you remember key locations.

Typing is easy--you just tap on the letter you want.  Of course, you can use the shift key to capitalize, or you can rely on PalmOS's auto-capitalization if you turn on this option in myKbd's hex keyboard options menu--tap on the hex keyboard icon at the top of the myKbd screen.  (You can also capitalize by drawing a circle or doing a back-and-forth jiggle within the key hexagon--what shape you draw doesn't matter, as long as it's at least 14 pixels long.)

All standard punctuation characters are available with no shifting--just tap on them.

There are a number of standard keys like tab, backspace, enter, caps-lock and arrow keys.You will notice that if you hold down the backspace or the arrows, they repeat.

This is really all you need to know as a new user.  Just practice and you will get better.  any new keyboard layout takes some getting used to.  But if you think of yourself as a power user, please read on.

There are two PalmOS-specific keys, the command key with the diagonal stroke that works just like the diagonal stroke in Graffiti and can be used for menu shortcuts, and the handwritten g which switches you to a Graffiti panel.

Finally, there are three very special keys.  The cycle key with the circular arrow is used for entering special characters, such as accented ones.  You do this by tapping in an ordinary character similar to the special character you want, and then repeatedly tapping the cycle key as many times as you need to get the character you want.  For instance, if you tap on 'o', then the cycle key will move you through all the different international versions of the 'o', namely ö, ò, ó, ô, õ, ø and œ, and then finally ends with the degree (°) and ordinal (º) signs.  Tapping '4' and then the cycle key will give you ¼ and ¾.  The choices are meant to be intuitive, and just about all extended characters are available.

There are two macro keys, labeled (1) and (2).  You can assign them commands, program launches, or common text strings by using the hex key macros option in the myKbd options menu.

