I was considering all of the short shifter options/possibilities--ratios, **** height, etc. and came up with two questions, one a real world concern, and one theoretical.

Real world question, lengthening the lever arm below the pivot with no changes to the shift cable housing stop can increase the angle of the cable's entry into the housing substantially. I would think this would at least add some friction to the action (on top of the additional effort that results from the decrease in leverage when a short shifter of any type is added). A secondary concern, though minimal, would be accelerated cable wear. Take a look at the first picture in Silver02CooperS's recent post about his broken shifter to get a good idea of the severity of the angle.

Now the theoretical one. Why is there not a need to extend the cross-gate lever by an amount equal to that added to the fore/aft lever? I'd assume there's a synchronized amount of travel required from each cable at the transmission end for each shift. Why wouldn't changing only one of the levers throw this off?

Real engineers please help. I think this might be an example of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing . . .