Web-based Keyboard

A Web-based keyboard is a computer program that displays a keyboard image with all its keys on the screen. Users press the keys by clicking on the image with a mouse. Sometimes called a virtual keyboard, the Web-based keyboard can eliminate the need for a hardware version of a keyboard. It’s particularly useful in situations where physical space and hardware is limited, such as with PDAs .

eNetPlanet.com  provides a good example of a Web-based keyboard.

The Web-based keyboard from the Windows XP tablet edition is shown below:

Even though it looks exactly like a physical keyboard, the Web-based keyboard takes some time to get used to, especially to type quickly because the user cannot actually feel any keys.

Unlike a normal keyboard, the Web-based keyboard accepts text input by mouse clicks. Hence, Web-based keyboards can protect your data from keyloggers, which are tools that can be used on computers to capture, perhaps secretly, a user’s keystrokes.

Some high-end virtual keyboards are not displayed via the Web or monitor screen but laser light projected on a surface, such as a flat screen. It detects when a key is pressed when a finger cuts through the laser light while the user is typing. Images of such a virtual keyboard are shown below:

Photographs by Virtual Devices, Inc.