More "hackish" in portrait mode

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Can you give to the portrait mode layout more "hackish" style? Right now this 
layout usable only for text writing but not for normal *nix administration 
work, because there is not any significant changes to any other keyboards.

I use the Samsung Note with the 5" screen, so in the terminal I have 80x33 
resolution with fully readable letters, OTOH landscape layout is still "huge" 
for me. 

Right now I can suggest to add more "special" symbols (like '|', or '`') to 
long press comma menu, to add the "tab" key in left of the middle row, add ctrl 
key to long press on layout switch button, to add arrow keys to "numbers" 
layout (instead some punctuoation) and so on.

I think, all such things must be used only in the english layout, because any 
other layout used only for "comments" and "names", not for administration, 
actually.

P.S. Sorry, my English is bad but understandable, I think :-)

Original issue reported on code.google.com by 3575...@gmail.com on 30 Nov 2011 at 8:45

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Have you tried activating the 5-row layout for portrait mode in the keyboard's 
settings menu? The 5" screen may be big enough for that to be usable.

Most of the characters should also be available in the 4-row layout in the ?123 
and Alt maps, but I agree that it's not very convenient. 

Personally I'm not a huge fan of long-press since that's slow to use, I'm 
looking into a slide-up extension keyboard as a quicker alternative.

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 1 Dec 2011 at 8:23

[GoogleCodeExporter]

> Have you tried activating the 5-row layout for portrait mode in the keyboard's
> settings menu? The 5" screen may be big enough for that to be usable.

Of course, but this mode still somewhat small. In 4-rows I can use two thumbs 
on my Note.

> Most of the characters should also be available in the 4-row layout in the 
?123 and 
> Alt maps, but I agree that it's not very convenient. 

Yes, but this is very uncomfortable, because of "text" matter of this layout. 
Frequently used keys in system administration (like '\', '|', '~' or '`') can 
be found on Alt map, but many punctuation symbols is duplicated in long tap 
menu for '.' and in ?123 layout. And alt map is not "sticky", so I must always 
tap ?123 -> Alt for these symbols.

> Personally I'm not a huge fan of long-press since that's slow to use

Yes, but this method can be used for just expansion of the current layout, by 
adding these "system" symbols to long tap menu for ',', by example. And in any 
case this will be faster, than use alt layout :-( '\' and '|' used _very_ often 
on *nixes and '|' used in *nixes and cisco, by example.

And in any case, there is need to add "tab" and "ctrl" on main layout, at 
least. And will be desirable to add alt and arrow keys (on second layout by 
example).

Original comment by 3575...@gmail.com on 1 Dec 2011 at 9:14

[GoogleCodeExporter]

On my experimental branch, I've now reactivated the slide-up extension keyboard 
that was present in the AOSP branch but disabled before release. It includes 
digits and punctuation on rows 5 and 6 in portrait mode, these extra rows 
appear when you slide upwards from the main keyboard into the completion or 
text editing area.

If you're feeling experimental, try this download: 
http://code.google.com/p/hackerskeyboard/downloads/detail?name=hackerskeyboard-v
1028-experiment5.apk - note that includes various other lightly-tested changes, 
let me know if you notice it behaving unexpectedly.

At this point, this is mainly intended as a proof of concept to show an 
alternative to long-press. Going forward, I want to make the content of these 
rows configurable too along with the overall customizability (issue 13).

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 18 Dec 2011 at 12:17

• Changed state: Started

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Yes, I take a look on this concept and this solution is more convenient, of 
course, but in this case you may use swipe from _any_ key for change. From 
'dot' by examle ;-)

But this is another problem. What about main issue of this ticket? Will you 
make some changes in the _main_ layout in portrait mode? 

Original comment by 3575...@gmail.com on 19 Dec 2011 at 8:18

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I'm looking into options, mainly based around customizable keymaps and more 
flexible configurations. For example, I'd like to support a portrait layout 
with 11 horizontal keys instead of 10, which would make room for 4 extra keys. 
One of those could be an extra mode switch for a cursor key mode. The US Dvorak 
keyboard and a few Scandinavian ones already use 11-across, and it's nice to 
have a dedicated apostrophe key for plain text too.

However, I'm not sure if it's something I'd want to offer as a standard layout 
since it'll be very much a matter of taste which keys people consider important 
enough to add, and I'm sure if I arbitrarily pick a few extra keys there'll be 
more people complaining that approving. So it's pretty much dependent on having 
the user-customizable key maps in place so that people can change it, and 
that's what I'm working on first.

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 19 Dec 2011 at 8:28

[GoogleCodeExporter]

It's matter of your choice, of course, but I repeat: right now "portrait mode 
layout" is the same as any other keyboards. This layout useful _only_ for text 
typing, not for any other works like system administration or something like 
this. So in the current state even standard swipe keyboard, built-in in my 
Samsung is more useful for me :-(

In any case, the layout editor will solve this and many other problems ;-)

Original comment by 3575...@gmail.com on 19 Dec 2011 at 8:35

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I understand your point, the issue is that it's currently only feasible to 
support a single portrait layout per language since editing and maintaining the 
XML files for them is a giant pain. Given that constraint, I've stuck to the 
original layout which works fairly well for text. Personally I just flip the 
phone to landscape mode when I need to type something complicated, but for 
serious command line work I think a keyboardless phone won't ever be great. I 
miss my G1 sometimes...

Originally I had only intended this keyboard for tablets, supporting phones at 
all had been a later addition...

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 19 Dec 2011 at 9:03

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Ok, I understand your point. Of course my old N900 was more useful for this, 
but... 

OTOH, I think only one "special" language layout ("language independent", 
marked as "system" by example) wiil good solution fo users like me :-)

Original comment by 3575...@gmail.com on 19 Dec 2011 at 9:18

[GoogleCodeExporter]

If you want to try the bleeding edge experience, download v1.28-experiment10 
from http://code.google.com/p/hackerskeyboard/downloads/list which offers a new 
compact portrait 5-row layout for phones. It's English only at this point.

To use the new portrait mode layout, select "en_EX" in input languages and make 
sure that "full keyboard in portrait mode" is turned off.

The "suggestions in landscape mode" setting also applies to this mode, 
suppressing suggestions if off.

Note that there are three ways to get the characters from missing keys such as 
"[":

- long-press the key where it's showing that symbol as the second alternate hint
- use the Fn button to switch keymaps (it supports multitouch)
- swipe up to above the keyboard edge, and select from the extension keyboard

Comments and feedback are welcome :-)

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 28 Dec 2011 at 9:49

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Screenshots attached for the experimental version.

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 28 Dec 2011 at 9:52

Attachments:

• en-EX-main.png
• en-EX-fn.png

[GoogleCodeExporter]

It's coool!!! Thank you!!! I'm happy!!! It's the best New Year's gift for me. 
Right now this is the best portrait keyboard for system administration works on 
my Note. Thank you again :-) 

I can find only some small glitches, but all of these is not for this issue. 
But only one small request here: can you add 'Esc' key to somewhere else? I 
mean the second instance. On Fn screen instead '.com' or 'smile'? All other 
keys is settled very wise :-)

P.S. Happy New Year and Thank you again! :-)

Original comment by 3575...@gmail.com on 29 Dec 2011 at 8:31

[GoogleCodeExporter]

The new layout is now also included in the prerelease build, try v1.28rc13 or 
later from http://code.google.com/p/hackerskeyboard/downloads/list . 

Now with Esc key on the Fn keymap :-)

Bonus feature: try the new configurable keyboard swipe actions, for example 
assigning swipe up to toggle suggestions display.

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 31 Dec 2011 at 8:30

• Changed state: FixInTest

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thank you for 'Esc' key, but right now I need to return to this issue, because 
now it's not 'BrokenInTest' :-(

The last modifications of your great keyboard (1.26rc16-18) broke down one 
important thing - now I can't use russian keyboard with this layout. I don't 
understand why you didn't like simple solution with en-EX layout. This layout 
was not for englishmens, this layout was the special layout for special work. 
In this case I just selected en_Ex and russian and all works fine. Any english 
speaking man can select English for all thing or to add en_EX for system 
administration, by example, and switch to it only for this work.

Right now this method is fully broken. I can't swith to russian keyboard at all 
without totaly switching of keyboard layout :-(

So right now, the last working version for me is only rc15 :-(

Original comment by 3575...@gmail.com on 6 Jan 2012 at 6:49

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[Bulk bug update] The new Market release 1.29 includes the changes from the 
v1.28 prerelease series, and these "FixInTest" issues should now be fixed. If 
not, please reopen the bug with additional information. If the original bug 
covered multiple separate issues that aren't all addressed, please open new 
bug(s) for the leftover ones.

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 13 Jan 2012 at 9:29

• Changed state: Fixed

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Bulk update - changing "Fixed" to "Verified" for old bugs.

(Background: I'm changing the "Fixed" status to be considered open, the next 
steps in the lifecycle will be the closed states "FixInTest" and "Verified". 
This lets me mark issues as "Fixed" in commit messages without hiding them from 
the issue tracker.)

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 22 Jan 2013 at 7:33

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Bulk update - changing "Fixed" to "Verified" for old bugs.

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 22 Jan 2013 at 7:34

• Changed state: Verified