Abstract: The present invention is a device for processing text strings by displaying at least two bands of characters of an alphabet, each band having one character designated as the focus character, with the focus character of a first band being highlighted initially, and having a band switching means for switching the highlighted character to the focus character of another band, a character choosing means for switching the highlighted character in a band to a different character in the band, and a character selecting means for selecting the currently highlighted character. The character choosing means and band switching means are typically arrow buttons on a control device and the character selecting means is typically an “enter” button. The invention also includes the corresponding method of entering text strings into a text processing device.