Please check out iTypetext virtual keyboard
Imre Meszaros
I thought it might be a good idea to create a virtual keyboard for
Apple iPhone which is a bit different than the integrated one.
Here is my attempt called iTypetext, so the address where you can try
it out is www.itypetext.com.
It has a widescreen layout, but it's not a full desktop keyboard,
however I think it can be useful for the daily tasks.
During the development I have thought of many improvements, but
anyway this time is better for me to stop because I am a European
developer and I don't have an Iphone so I cannot test this web
application with the real hardware (and Iphone is very rare in Europe
at the time of writing).
That's why I ask the community, please test iTypetext and send me
your comments if possible.
I am especially interested in getting comments for the following
topics:
- Visiting www.itypetext.com shows up the detection of widescreen
mode. The simplified procedure is the following: if iPhone is in
narrow screen (vertical) position, the application should wait until
the iPhone is rotated to horizontal position (widescreen mode) to
proceed to the virtual keyboard.
- if the detection doesn't work somehow, then please type the
following address: www.itypetext.com/index_tkb.html. The virtual
keyboard should appear.
- The virtual keyboard should almost completely fill the horizontal
screen of iPhone. So there should be no initial zoomed out (tiny)
view.
- Pressing any key clears the textarea.
- I am curious if the typing speed is correct or it is responding
slowly.
- It should not happen, but it might be possible that pressing a
(virtual) key brings up the iPhone's own keyboard. On the other hand,
touching the textarea will very likely bring up the iPhone's own
keyboard.
- I am also curious if the typing is comfortable on the virtual
keyboard at least an acceptable level. The size and readability of the
displayed text (including auto-complete text) can also be a question.
- In general, the rounded buttons need double-click to be activated.
Clicking the Send button twice should activate the internal e-mail
client of iPhone with the previously entered message.
Please let me know what you think.
Thank you,
Imre
Imre Meszaros
Additionally I plan to set up a link for iTypetext in order to store
the application locally on iPhone. This can be done by using data: URL
which is good for offline use (details:
http://www.kudit.com/wiki/index.php/Storing_entire_code_in_bookmark_for_offline_use).
Any opinion about this?
Thank you,
Imre
adam.s...@gmail.com
I'm testing this out right now, and somethings work right and some
things not quite.
The recognition of widescreen/slimscreen doesn't work, it goes
straight to the keyboard even if I load the page in slimscreen. The
keyboard starts out fullscreen without being shrunken.
The keys/buttons don't wrap correctly on the screen.
The buttons are arranged like this, with pretty large rounded buttons
around them:
"123456789
0()<-
->QWERTYUI
OP+=
Caps ASDFGHJK
L:@Enter
Caps ZXCVBNM,
.?!/
Clear About Spacebar www Send
The text properly goes in the box, and typing using your keyboad does
not trigger the iPhone's onscreen keyboard. (Although tapping inside
the box does make the keyboard pop up)
The keys are pretty laggy and their buggy arrangement makes things a
little more difficult ;)
[Clear] doesn't work, and autocorrecting doesn't seem to work either.
Good effort, and I like anything for the iphone that lets you take
text from one screen and put it on another. The lack of a general copy/
paste feature on the iPhone is annoying.
-Adam
On Aug 7, 8:56 am, Imre Meszaros <imr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I thought it might be a good idea to create a virtual keyboard for
> Apple iPhone which is a bit different than the integrated one.
>
> Here is my attempt called iTypetext, so the address where you can try
> it out iswww.itypetext.com.
>
> It has a widescreen layout, but it's not a full desktop keyboard,
> however I think it can be useful for the daily tasks.
> During the development I have thought of many improvements, but
> anyway this time is better for me to stop because I am a European
> developer and I don't have an Iphone so I cannot test this web
> application with the real hardware (and Iphone is very rare in Europe
> at the time of writing).
> That's why I ask the community, please test iTypetext and send me
> your comments if possible.
>
> I am especially interested in getting comments for the following
> topics:
>
> - Visitingwww.itypetext.comshows up the detection of widescreen
Imre Meszaros
I would like to check the recognition of widescreen/slimscreen problem
later when the keyboard layout is fine and working better.
So I reduced the keyboard layout size, hopefully it fits now
horizontally well. If not, I can reduce the layout further. If the
layout fits well, the question would be how many percent of the
horizontal screen is occupied approximately (90%, 80%, 70%, ... ?). I
would be happy if the keyboard and the textarea completely fill the
horizontal screen.
If the layout is fine, the keyboard should be comfortable for the
typing fingers at least an acceptable level.
You reported that the keys was pretty laggy, I guess the reason was
the javascript auto complete feature what I removed now, so I hope
there is no lag for the keys.
It is important that the Clear, About, www, Send buttons generally
work by double-clicking (or double-tapping) them, the main reason is
to avoid single tapping them accidentally during typing. So if Clear
still doesn't work by double-tapping it, then I guess there is no
ondblclick event supported by iPhone.
Yeah, I agree that the lack of a general copy/ paste feature on the
iPhone is annoying, maybe Apple implements the copy/paste sometimes.
Please give me some feedbacks, if possible.
Thank you,
Imre
On Aug 8, 9:28 pm, "adam.stol...@gmail.com" <adam.stol...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Imre Meszaros
Any opinion about the new layout of the keyboard? Does it fit well to
the screen without wrapping error? Is there any lag using the keys?
Does the e-mail client show up together with the entered message by
double-clicking the Send button?
Please let me know what you think, check out www.itypetext.com
Thanks,
Imre
Imre Meszaros
It would be nice to know if the new smaller keyboard layout is
comfortable for typing at least an acceptable level.
Regards,
Imre
adam.s...@gmail.com
The new layout formats properly and looks like a real keyboard. The
buttons are fairly comfortable to type, I just of course have to go a
bit slower than the iphone's popup keyboard, since these buttons are
smaller.
Issues: When typing, it's like the cursor doesn't move. It's like I'm
typing backwards. If I try to type say "treetrunks" it will turn into
"sknurteert"
The buttons at the bottom don't work, I don't think I can doubletap
fast enough, or there isn't an ondblclick like you said.
It's good to have a widescreen keyboard that also lets you see what
you're typing at least. (the iPhone's widescreen keyboard barely
allows space for a line of text on top of it)
Keep up the good work.
Imre Meszaros
There is a new detection mechanism to determine the widescreen mode.
The keyboard should be loaded when the iPhone is in horizontal/
widescreen position.
> The new layout formats properly and looks like a real keyboard. The
> buttons are fairly comfortable to type, I just of course have to go a
> bit slower than the iphone's popup keyboard, since these buttons are
> smaller.
I can scale up the keyboard a bit to be more comfortable, do you see
a bit of space for that horizontally and vertically on the screen?
To fix the issue with the frozen cursor and typing backwards, I
reprogrammed that part, so hopefully the cursor moves and the typing
direction is right.
The Double-click feature is completely removed, but still to prevent
tapping the Clear, www, About, Send buttons accidentally at the bottom
of the screen, they can only be enabled by a checkbox at the bottom
left.
Please let me know what you think...
Best wishes,
Imre
Imre Meszaros
It would be nice to know if the detection of widescreen works on
iPhone by calling itypetext.com, so it only proceeds when iPhone is in
horizontal position. Also I am curious if the textarea and the
keyboard has the same width or not.
Best regards,
Imre