Benson | # 21 | 2008-05-09, 01:30 | Report

Is there an fr_CA locale? I'd have never guessed...

bge | # 22 | 2008-05-09, 01:35 | Report

I'm glad I guessed it right

And the Québécois pride, I suppose, is in the same state as my support for accents in QuikScript; that is, not implemented yet

(Actually, my second locale is fr_CA, so there

bge | # 23 | 2008-05-09, 02:39 | Report

Well, "release early, release often" they always say... Then again, it's my fault if it's so buggy

I've another release (0.9.2) in the garage; you all know how to get it by now

It should fix the bad truncation in portrait mode (it's still truncated, just better truncated--I hope, I still can't test this!).

It's also a partial fix to the disabled menu: now, I return ALL English locales as supported instead of just en_US. I don't want to return others because I don't really support them, since there's no I18N keyboard in there yet...

Finally, I've activated the "Shift" and "Alt" keys; they're pretty useful as indicators of the current shift mode.

Enjoy this release!

Benson | # 24 | 2008-05-09, 03:29 | Report

Working, now properly usable on portrait. Oddly, it's not quite centered when it is full-width; but it's close (I don't care if it's dead center...) and it now fully displays the left pad when the navigator is on the side.

Great!

And of course, the two buttons (Shift, Alt) work well now; I had intended to suggest that one or both be used as indicators.

Along those lines: What about the pad-swapping? If Alt and Shift were consolidated, or perhaps alt moved to the &!e' key, you could also have an indicator/control for that. Maybe even have it latchable... a double-click on the swap button "permanently" switches the pads, instead of next char only?

Just thoughts here; I don't really see a major usability shortcoming here, the way it is.
Well, maybe using Gnumeric; you wind up wanting the numbers there. But, there's always full-screen and/or moving the panel to the top where it belongs.

geneven | # 25 | 2008-05-09, 10:23 | Report

Super-cool; I'll play with it.From my preliminary test it's hard to believe this will be as fast as the virtual keyboard, though.

bousch | # 26 | 2008-05-09, 11:20 | Report

I like it very much. Although I'm still typing pretty slow with it I think it will be a lot better then hunt-and-peck with the stylus after some more training. It's more fun anyway.

Edit: PS. can anybody show me how to get an exclamation mark (!) ?

Edit: Never mind, I found it, it is below the T and must be preceded by Alt.

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Last edited by bousch; 2008-05-09 at 12:35. Reason: answered my question

bge | # 27 | 2008-05-13, 02:30 | Report

Your wish is my command Check out my latest release (0.9.3): https://garage.maemo.org/frs/?group_...elease_id=1805

Actually, I've consolidated Shift and Alt to Sh/Alt (ok, so it's not a great name) in the ModeA key, and pad swap is in the ModeB key (replacing the old shift location).

Edit: I wanted to use the &!e' key, but it doesn't look like it gets a callback when clicked??? This is a bit strange... I'm curious how the built-in virtual keyboard uses this key in the first place...

The ModeA key goes from (nothing) -> Shift -> Shift Lock -> Alt -> Alt Lock -> (nothing).

The ModeB key goes from (nothing) -> Swap -> Swap Lock -> (nothing).

I've also added a bit of code to display the last composed key in the middle of the appropriate input area. This is incredibly useful for password fields.

Also implemented pixel color detection (as discussed before), etc.

Oh, and bousch, thanks, looks like I had goofed with my little image editing job; the exclamation mark is now shown. Hadn't noticed it at all, really...

This was a fun little project; there's still a bit of polish to add, but once that's done, I'll try to hunt down some graffiti implementation or port xstroke (hopefully the latter isn't too slow...)

GeraldKo | # 28 | 2008-05-13, 03:12 | Report

I have found QuikScript fun to do, but I don't think it will ever be as fast as typing on the onscreen keyboard. I chose a long sentence to keep re-writing and, after practicing it for a while in QuikScript, I timed how long it took me to type it using the onscreen qwerty and QuikScript. Since I'm so much more familiar with qwerty, I compensated by letting myself substitute wrong letters for any letters in QuikScript for which I couldn't quickly remember their position. Still, qwerty came in at just about one minute and QuikScript came in never better than 1:40.

GeraldKo | # 29 | 2008-05-13, 03:16 | Report

[Off-topic]

@bge, if you're really looking for another fun little project , maybe you would want to try your hand at TypeItIn or one of the Linux apps are that are similar? I've been trying to get someone interested in it, maybe you're l'homme for the job.

Here's my first shot at tempting someone. In that thread, if you're interested, it might be worth looking at Benson's post #3, where he talks about HWR-generated character strings and some other ideas.

Then I made another pitch here. In that thread, it would be worth looking at my posts #7 and #9, where I list various macro-typing apps implemented in Linux. Possibly more helpful are Benson's posts where he outlines a way (that I can't follow) to make the type of program I'm talking about, especially #11, 15, and 16.

To my mind it would be great to have a form-filler since it's not that easy to type on the Tablets. If you read the first post of either thread, though, you'll get enough of that viewpoint! Auto-typing in Xterm was not the main point, and as geneven points out in the second thread, maybe I mis-marketed the app request.

So, Benoit, how's this all look to you? Interesting?

geneven | # 30 | 2008-05-24, 11:54 | Report

Oh my gosh, I've just spent an hour or so on Qwikscript and I'm exhausted. But it's fun. And I think it might work.

One idea is to make the "wheels" into "training wheels". Some people might have trouble reading the letters at the standard size. For training, a special setup could be constructed in which they are twice as big and the text displayed when you type is only a few lines. That might make things clearer for some people. Then, after one mastered the shapes of the letters, one would get rid of the training wheels and understand the system better.

Just an idea.

This is really challenging, but also promising. I think that in another hour or two I will be ready to go permanently Quikscript, or at least I will be able to decide whether it is really as quick as the virtual keyboard for me. I can touch type on a real keyboard at 70 wpm, so I might not be a fair test because I know the standard keyboard pretty well.

Everybody study their Qwikscript; I'm sure we'll be in speed contests on tv any year now. Maybe it will be an Olympic sport!