Extremely Dangerous Tab Key

[varialus]

I can't tell you how many times I have accidentally hit the tab key while typing in my web browser only to have the keyboard suddenly disappear, a link inadvertently tapped, a different page loaded, and everything I typed lost. For the love of God, please, please, please, I beg of you, remove that goddamned tab key next to the space bar in portrait mode! I don't care if you make it a configurable option or just get rid of it altogether, but please just end this eternal torment. Don't just move it, get rid of it all together; it's so effing dangerous! I use the Dvorak keyboard layout, which Google doesn't provide, so that's the only keyboard layout I actually care about, but I'm certain that there must be others who use other keyboard layouts who are also plagued by this issue. Thank you for the keyboard, it's otherwise great!

[Barkuti]

Curious little rant. Rewire your brain -aim better, at the bull- and stop complaining is maybe your best bet. I could aswell complain of such key being unavailable in certain input boxes. And/or use landscape mode.

[varialus]

Please add an option to remove it! I do try to avoid it and I try to get myself to only use my left thumb but it doesn't stick. I use the Dvorak keyboard, so I'm generally up for relearning habits, but something about the off centered nature of the space key and my wide phone makes this happen to me many times every day despite my efforts to avoid it. My phone doesn't have native Dvorak support, so I am very grateful for this keyboard app, but this sincerely frustrates me many times everyday, although luckily I don't always lose my comment, most of the time it just closes the keyboard and although I still often click the next key while the keyboard isn't present, there's often isn't a link right where I click, or sometimes clicking the back button restores the text in the text box, but when the text box is (I just copied my comment out of fear of losing it after typing this much) loaded via JavaScript, there's no getting it back. When I've typed a lot, it makes me want to throw my phone against the wall, but I don't. I know I'm a whiny little bitch and you are under no obligation to add the feature. All I can do is pay deference to you and plea, yea even beg and grovel. Please! Pretty please with sugar and sprinkles and a cherry on top! Oh, won't you please allow me to remove the tab from portrait mode? I'm more than happy to switch to landscape mode in the rare instances in which I do need the tab button, which although rare, I admit is super super handy to have. Your keyboard really is great! I don't often use keyboard shortcuts, but having access to them within Android is sooooo nice! They have really really helped on many occasions. And having access to the keyboard via the drop down menu; also extremely extremely handy. I can't tell you how many tons of times (although again not on a frequent basis), Android didn't recognize input needing to be entered, yet input actually was needed, either as regular text or as a keyboard shortcut. Having access to that has been sincerely very very helpful and makes my phone feel more like a computer rather than a cheap Internet appliance. Thank you, sincerely, for your great app! Ok, I guess I'm done for now. Thank you for your time and for considering my request. I hope you have a nice day and I will bear you no hard feelings regardless of the outcome. :-/

[varialus]

Aaand I just realized you don't appear to be the creator. But you're contributing, so most of it still applies. Please just mentally adjust for the fact that I just figured that you were the author. I am grateful for your contributions to this great app. Thank you for your efforts. :-)

[Barkuti]

No worries varialus, getting a response got you excited? Can understand. This seems to be a little niche forum, very little traffic. Just switched for a moment to the Dvorak layout, and of course the tab key is in the same position as for a standard one. As I said, your problem has to do with the way you've hardwired your brain, probably making the most efficient and minimalist right thumb movement to hit the space bar while typing too fast. My advice: slow down a bit and concentrate on how you move your fingers, consciously routing them as you type. It'll help a lot to rewire. Aim at the center for the space bar, the times of “wide” space bars are loong gone as did mechanical typewriters. Comparatively speaking, I'm a diehard. I do not even need an option to disable the good old <CTRL + A> select all combo (I must admit I have paid for it a couple of times LoL). I prefer compactness and maximum performance, take a peek:

Landscape mode, 45% of height.

Oh! Please, use the ENTER key from time to time as you type. (-:

Best regards and cheers, Salvador

[varialus]

The problem is that the size of my phone, while working well for providing screen real estate, speed, and battery life, it's size is not conducive with my personal hand physiology and my flawed human psychology, in relationship with the layout of this keyboard.Yes, I know that I'm physically capable of pressing the space bar correctly,band yes, I know that I'm technically probably capable of training myself to always press it correctly, but goddamned man, give me some credit, it really is, as the saying goes, easier said than done, lol!

[varialus]

I do sometimes use landscape, but it's often less convenient due to the large size of my phone. I do often tell myself to switch to landscape, but sometimes I can't stand how much of the screen it takes up, or conversely. how tiny its keys are if I make it smaller. Sometimes the length length of the screen, my short thumbs, and the lack of screen real estate doesn't bother me, but sometimes it does. I might note that the reason why I originally switched to Dvorak was not for a speed increase or anything like that, but rather because the Qwerty keyboard layout didn't mesh well with the physiology of my hands. Typing on a Qwerty keyboard causes me physical pain due to repetitive stress, mostly on the back of my hands. This tab key, why not causing physical pain, does cause very real psychological pain. I get so friggin' triggered, lol! I mean, just analyze my comments. Does my commentary about the problem strike you as someone who is simply mildly annoyed? Nah man, it's painful. It's literally painful.

[Barkuti]

Hello! Of course, can empathically understand. Using a keyboard on a phone can pose a real challenge. I tried some keyb apps at first, but honestly, I'm no fan of gesture typing, and I do neither need nor condone the usage of spell checking as it would end up slowing me down (seriously). I fluently write in spanish and english and to me is of way higher value to keep WordReference permanently open in a browser tab for a quick query rather on relying on a dumbass application spell checking performance whose developers can change anytime. Since I do not need suggestions/spell checking bar, I enjoy more available screen real state, and never have to worry about a stupid app fixing what it ain't broken. 👍 However, in order to write with minimal agility over these tiny keys a little bit of training may be required. It really pays off, though. I mostly use landscape when typing because… my device is still a 2013 Moto G, just 4.5". The reason you see what you see in my previous screenshot is because I reduced the device's stock dpi value from 320 to 244, in order to fit more content onscreen (more zoomed out view) and diminish the thickness of the various interface bars (status, navigation, browser, etc). Aah! Well, I was telling you my device is, by today's standards, small, and despite the fact I'm just 5' 5", typing in portrait here can give me hand cramps LoL! Training finger routing is the most rewarding stuff here, it'll reduce your error rate quite considerably (gold rule: you just press with the tip of your fingers).

Cheers P.S.: curious markup language this forum has. P.S.2: more than flawed, maybe it's untrained. ;-)

[TheWug]

I use the tab key all the time for tab completion when using SSH, please don't remove it.

If you use the Full 5-row layout, not the compact 5 row layout, it puts the tab key in the usual place, near the "1" and "`" keys, far away from the space bar. Perhaps try that instead.

[imasaru]

I believe OP wants an option for it to be removed.