Delete swipe key to select text

[iBabu007]

Please see the appropriate readme section for issue reporting guidelines: https://github.com/Helium314/HeliBoard?tab=readme-ov-file#reporting-issues tl;dr:

• search for duplicates, also in closed issues
• a single issue per topic
• reduce screenshot size

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Delete swipe key to select text.

Describe the solution you'd like Please provide a description of what you would like to have. The clearer it is described, the better it can be implemented the way you want it.

Currently if enabled you can use a swipe from delete button to select text and delete it. I think it would be more useful if it just selects the text without deleting it , then you would press delete, copy, cut or whatever.

Use case Provide a clear and concise description of your use case and what you thus think is missing, and why.

Describe alternatives you've considered (if any)

[makkonen]

I love this idea. Essentially zero downside/slowdown in most cases (it you want to delete, just select and then resume typing, overwriting the selection) and it adds another useful action: highlight and then use shift key to change capitalization, without your fingers having to leave the keyboard. (I'm coming from Swiftkey, which could toggle capitalization while the cursor was at the end of a word, and feel the lack of it in heliboard).

[e-t-l]

The major downside is that you can't select text forward, only backward. And of course, you do lose the current swipe-to-delete functionality. To solve both of these issues, I propose a modification: To select text, swipe from the Shift button to the spacebar, then left or right (to select forward or backward from the cursor position, respectively).

Since the standard way to select text on a physical keyboard is to hold Shift and use left/right arrow keys to move the cursor, and in Heliboard swiping left/right on the spacebar is the way to move the cursor, the method I'm proposing would be the most intuitive solution.