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alright. so i have noticed that there are many different keyboard styles, features, and fuctionalities.
but there is one huge thing missing. and it took me until right now to figure out what it was.
we are missing personalization and versatility.
i am on a mission to create the best onscreen keyboard that xda has ever seen.
obviously i cannot do this alone.
i am great at graphics and anamations but programming isnt exactly my strong point. so ifanyone and i mean anyone is intrested in this project, definitly post here..and also a pm. to me would be greatly appreciated.
i have high hopes for this project and i hope everyone else does too.
you can also post here if there are options/features that you look for in an on screen keyboard.
or you can just wish us luck!
thanks everyone =)
What I would like to see:
A combination between the finger-usable PCM Keyboard,
and the gestures of the WM5-keyboard
Something like TouchPal from CooTek but taking up a little less screen realestate would be amazing.Wish i could help with the coding, but I've only taken one class of c++ and I know I wouldn't be any help. Good luck with this project, sounds really cool.
I think a 1/2 screen finger-friendly qwerty is ideal. One that has basic punctuation keys (Period, comma, exclamation, question) on the primary input screen.
Unfortunately, I don't have skills/time to work on initial development, but very willing to test as I am in search of the best on screen keyboard and I can provide experienced and thorough feedback.
PPC6800- Titan
WM6 2.17.651
Radio 1.47.01
I suggest the main keyboard window to be one or two lines with option and buttons which show the main keyboard layouts with tap and hold to navigate to the desired letter. So the layout window that can be semi transparent to allow see what you write not need to be all the time on screen and covers a big part of her. Hope you understand what I mean cause my english are not so good.
brilliant idea
text assigneable keys, as in assigning '[email protected]' so it can be called at any time, and other assignable texts. I like the touchpal keyboard, but it does take up too much space and there is a lot going on. Resco just updated their's and I am not sure I like the new one, it is very much like the pocketcm keyboard, so why pay $19 for resco's??? I can't program, but will help in usability testing, so count me in if you think I can help the project. Good luck.
It's clear that there will be as many different visions of a "perfect keyboard" as there are people posting here. What is worst, there'll be many conflicting ones: "can the keys be bigger?", "the keys should be smaller", "i need one more page with numbers only", "who the hell needs a page with numbers only, it's a waste of memory", etc...
So i'd say that what a program with such ambitions would need the most is full customizability. Here's a roundup of features i'd like to see:
-key layout customizable trough an xml file.
-multiple pages switched by button actions (tap, hold, gesture) so we can have one default page, one with numbers, one with national symbols, etc.
-gestures, but not only right/left/up/down, like in default keyboard, but also diagonal, and ability to use a key from a different page upon a gesture, eg. when you press a letter and drag in bottom right direction, you'll get a lowercase national (like accented one) character, if you drag in top-right direction, you'll get an uppercase one.
-dynamic key binding: you copy a text to the clipboard, and with a certain key combination (set in the config file) you can bind it to some unoccupied space left for that purpose (you could use it for single letters/symbols, e-mail addresses, or even a bit longer texts - say up to 256 characters).
-did i mention customizability?
I guess that these features would be a good starting point and more functions could be added on the way.
So in short, my vision of the perfect keyboard would be actually just a framework, a tool, enabling the users to experiment with different layouts and functions and create their own perfect keyboard. And the XML config file plus additional graphics would be the keyboard itself. It would be for text input what BatteryStatus is for Today screen plugins.
Example config could look a bit like this:
Code:
<Keyboard name="example">
<Page name="Default" background="image.png" height="200">
<Row>
<Key name="A" image="key_normal.png" image_pressed="key_pressed.png" caption="A">
<Press action="typeText" argument="a"
<DragR action="specialKey" argument="Space" />
<DragBR action="overrideCaption" argument="ą" action="typeText" argument="ą" />
(...)
</Key>
(...)
</Row>
(...)
</Page>
(...)
</Keyboard>
Available key gestures could be tap, hold, double tap, drag - sideways, up and down, diagonally. Actions could be something like type text, override caption (replaces default key caption until the key released, so that you can see what you're typing), permanently change page to a defined one, change page to a different one for one keypress (like the shift does i the default keyboard), cycle pages, etc. Each key could trigger multiple actions - so it could type some text, and then change page to a different one (example - you have a page with large assignable buttons, so you can bing something like an e-mail address there. When you press that key and the address is typed, the keyboard will return to its default page).
Anyway, that's just my 2 cents. Good luck with the project, whatever direction it goes in.
Hi I'm currently using PocketCM Keyboard which is better than the default but a bit frustrating when having to use !&- etc as you have to switch to numbers then to exclamations...
I was wondering if anyone have found a better keyboard (perhaps like the iphone with everything on the one screen) but still takes advantage of the screen size?
JetMouse, you know you can easily customise the layout of PocketCM Keyboard to suit your needs? It's as easy as editing a text file to control which symbols appear on which buttons. Since I did that it's easily become my favourite software on my Touch.
SiliconS said:
JetMouse, you know you can easily customise the layout of PocketCM Keyboard to suit your needs? It's as easy as editing a text file to control which symbols appear on which buttons. Since I did that it's easily become my favourite software on my Touch.
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No I didn't know this - can you run me through how to do it?
JetMouse said:
Hi I'm currently using PocketCM Keyboard which is better than the default but a bit frustrating when having to use !&- etc as you have to switch to numbers then to exclamations...
I was wondering if anyone have found a better keyboard (perhaps like the iphone with everything on the one screen) but still takes advantage of the screen size?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use SPB Keyboard (the new one, version 4.0) with fullscreen mode. The non-fullscreen mode is pretty much iphone-like. Don't know if it's "better" - to my taste the stock one is just perfect in all respects except for lack of support for Russian, which I need. Unlike most other keyboards, it has arrows which compensate the absense of the dpad on the device.
Sure thing:
Connect your PocketPC to your computer so you can browse the contents of the device.
Browse to \Program Files\PCMKeyboard
Copy English.layout (or whichever one you're using) to your computer's desktop
Make a backup of the file, just in case
Open the live file with Notepad
You can see four lines labelled keyboard_layout_#=
Edit the characters in those lines to change the symbols on the keys in PocketCM Keyboard
Each of the four lines contains a complete template for the keyboard. Rows are separated by the \n (newline) combination
There are some shortcuts to create special-purpose keys:
\2 seems to be uppercase
\1 seems to be lowercase
\b is backspace
\M is the symbol/text toggle button
\N is the enter key
There is a way of including smilies or combinations of characters on single keys, but I can't remember how. I also can't remember how to edit the row of quick symbols you see if you hold down the '123#?' button
Once you've made your changes, save the file on your computer and copy it back over to the PocketPC.
You'll need to choose a different softinput thing and then go back to PCM Keyboard to see the changes.
Don't forget to save the file somewhere in case you upgrade to a newer version of PCM Keyboard.
My favourite keyboard is Tengo. Allows very fast and forgiving typing. You might like to try it. I hope it works on Touch HD cos I have not got one to try on yet.
They have a free version, a commercial regular version, and a commercial thumb version.
the best keyboard for me is touchpal from http://www.cootek.com/
so many improvements
prospects said:
the best keyboard for me is touchpal from http://www.cootek.com/
so many improvements
Click to expand...
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is it compatible with the TOUCH HD
Touchpal
I think Touchpal is the best.
iznee said:
is it compatible with the TOUCH HD
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I just tested it, yes it is 100% compatible.
I love this keyboard, but I am trying to get it to run using the Dutch language. It is so blazing fast and accurate in English using the suretype layout, it's not even funny. I SWEAR I cannot type faster using a hardware keyboard, simply because of the fact that it is just as accurate, has big enough keys to type blind, and you don't actually have to depress a button so... works for me
Still stuck with the trial version though...
Only thing that I still gotta get used to is switching keyboards using a finger slide, I just keep pressing buttons instead of triggering the slide really cool function though as it saves button space and basically is just cool to show people
Thanks for the tip people!
EDIT:
Got my own language it in it now, easy... Also really easy to switch languages... Just pull down the ABC key and pick one. This does reveal some non-skinned ugly winmo buttons though, even while the rest of the keyboard is Diamond skinned.
wfhowell said:
I think Touchpal is the best.
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Completely Agree, it is very usefull, Fast and easy to use Keyboard
TouchPal
I would at least try the demo of this. I personally prefer TouchPal to a Blackberry hardware keyboard. I am serious. The seplling correction and word prediction is simply amazing. Completely altered my view of software keyboards.
BTW- I am 6' 2" and weigh 220 with BIG hands, and Have been happy with TouchPal since the first Touch.
How to use CRTL keys with these embedded keyboards? For example, copy/paste .. CRTL C and CRTL V ..
I hope this is not the W7 style ..
I don't think any software-keyboard WM device has had CTRL keys on-screen, historically because of the lack of multi-touch on resistive screens I imagine. You'll just have to tap-and-hold to cut and paste, I'm afraid.
ianjd said:
I don't think any software-keyboard WM device has had CTRL keys on-screen, historically because of the lack of multi-touch on resistive screens I imagine. You'll just have to tap-and-hold to cut and paste, I'm afraid.
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Thanks for your reply, but tap-and-hold doesn't work i.e. on calendar. How do you copy or duplicate events?
You are correct- most times you need to paste (such as entering long registration codes etc) the entry boxs don't have a paste option, though its worth tapping/holding just in case a context menu pops up.
The original WinMo keyboard did have a 'Ctrl' key but most of the current ones don't. One that does, and happily one that works in the HD Mini's screen resolution is SPB Keyboard. This has a 'Ctrl' key on the main keyboard.
Anyone know if it's possible to tweak the qwerty keyboard? I'm coming over from a TP2 and I like the builtin KB that HTC provides, and it should be even nicer on the larger screen, but it's not as handy as it could be. There are extra, blank keys on the 2/2 Numeric pad and I'm wondering if it's possible to add some keys. For instance it would be very handy to have a space key in the numeric pads.
I just upgraded from a TYTN II and i do miss the physical keyboard and i'm not too crazy over the software keyboard mainly because i don't get the tactile feel of pressing the keys.
But have you tried the Swype ? Needs a little getting used to but i'm getting pretty good with Swype and i feel it's a lot faster than typing. Plus it looks pretty cool
Ther are other keyboards. Sorry, I don't recall their name. One was very customizable though. I tired two different ones, but they didn't play nice with predictive text.
I have Resco and I like it well enough, though the version I have doesn't seem to have been built for 800x480 so it doesn't use all of the screen real estate. Therefore the keys are too small.
I like the HTC QWERTY keyboard a lot. It just doesn't seem to be customizable and therefore one has to switch between the screens more than it might otherwise be necessary in order to get the keys you're after. All I really want to do is to be able to enter a space while on the numeric screen. Not move the cursor, but to add an actual space. And to swap a couple of the characters on the 1/2 screen with others on the ABC and 2/2 screens.
Other than that I think it's a great keyboard. The haptic for me provides enough feedback and the keys are plenty big enough. My Leo should be here today or tomorrow and then I can start trying different things. If it turns out Resco's current KB can be made larger then that would probably be just the ticket assuming the HTC KB cannot be customized. I'm not really interested in tryiing Swype, but thanks for the tip.
I would imagine there's an XML keymap somewhere that we could conceivably edit but I'm not sure, i'd like to know the answer as well.
Tref said:
All I really want to do is to be able to enter a space while on the numeric screen. Not move the cursor, but to add an actual space.
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you dont mean THIS space then?
Has anyone here tried alternate software keyboards with the HD2 (other than the ones that come with it)?
For instance, SPB keyboard (giant keys), Fitaly keyboard (different key layout, different kind of prediction), etc.?
Curious to hear your reviews--whether there is any point in getting any of those?
Also, is there any way to get the standard WinMo one back? (I don't mean for all the time, but occasionally it comes in handy. For instance, it has a Ctrl key, which one can use to cut and paste. Touch Ctrl then C, it copies selected text to the clipboard. Ctrl then V pastes them. Etc. I've only seen that Ctrl key on the standard winmo keybd.)
if you have not tried swype yet i would suggest giving it a go.
it works very well on the HD2 and makes inputing text alot easier
try Resco, ive just bought it cos i find it is more accurate and looks alot like the htc original
it has some great features and is only £6.50, theres a 10 day trial on it for testing.
ive found it to be faster to type with less errors, with the same size keys. it also has copy and paste as well as a calculator built in
me said:
Has anyone here tried alternate software keyboards with the HD2 (other than the ones that come with it)?
For instance, SPB keyboard (giant keys), Fitaly keyboard (different key layout, different kind of prediction), etc.?
Curious to hear your reviews--whether there is any point in getting any of those?
Also, is there any way to get the standard WinMo one back? (I don't mean for all the time, but occasionally it comes in handy. For instance, it has a Ctrl key, which one can use to cut and paste. Touch Ctrl then C, it copies selected text to the clipboard. Ctrl then V pastes them. Etc. I've only seen that Ctrl key on the standard winmo keybd.)
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Does anyone know of a iPhone looking keyboard?
I hate, Hate, HATE the arrow keys on the HTC keyboard and the alternatives are not what I am used to.
The layout of the iPhone keyboard is absolutely perfect for me and unlike Android, I cant seem to find a keyboard replacement that has the same layout
Please if anyone knows of one let me know
Considering most of us hate the iphone keyboard, I'm guessing that is why no one has made one. I like the arrows on the htc keyboard, about the only reason I use it.
Have you tried swype?
How about fingerkeyboard?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=501434
nrfitchett4 said:
Considering most of us hate the iphone keyboard, I'm guessing that is why no one has made one.
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I absolute LOVE the iPhone keyboard! I hate how my right hand has to type awkwardly due to the arrow keys taking up space on the right side of the landscape keyboard. I would much rather just have larger letter keys.
nrfitchett4 said:
Have you tried swype?
How about fingerkeyboard?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=501434
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Hmmm I tried the SPB keyboard and the Rescoe keyboard so far but didn't like either one. I want something that has the EXACT same layout of the iPhone if possible.
Edit:
- tried out Fingerkeyboard 2.1 and it doesn't work since it still has the same arrow keys which I HATE and dont want on my keyboard taking up space
- tried out swype but it lags when doing regular typing and doesnt show a letter pop up above the letter you type like the iPhone does.
Anyone else know of a iPhone type keyboard?