Virtual on-screen keyboard software has come a tremendous way over the past several years, getting smarter about predictive text and offering new ways to input text, like via swipe gestures. Is there still room for improvement? One start-up thinks so, and wants to minimize the screen real estate eaten up by traditional keyboard software, while also offering some new ways to interact.

Minuum is essentially a linear keyboard – all the keys live in one row. While it usually lives along the bottom of the screen, the keyboard can be resized and repositioned at your whim. With so many keys so close together – especially when we’re looking at its use in portrait more – you’d think accuracy would be an issue, but Minuum’s algorithms work to figure out just what you meant to type, even if your taps are a little off. For more precise entry, you can tap and hold to get a magnified view.

Beyond just touchscreen entry, the basic Minuum engine lends itself to working with rotation sensors, game controllers – pretty much any system where you can register position in some way.

There’s an Indiegogo project to raise funds for the release of Minuum, and with a month still to go, it’s already easily met its goal. If you want early access to the software, there’s still time to contribute, and a beta version is expected out this summer.