So true. I have Swedish, Danish, English (UK) and Greek keyboard on iPads to cover all the signs I need. A math keyboard is also needed. Who has the capacity to have muscle memory of all this?
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Apple Researching Keyboards With Adaptive Displays on Each Key
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Hi Apple, the scissors mechanism is good, Magic keyboard is perfect. Don't f with our keyboards anymore.
The subjectiv needs of a "Pro" at Macforum usually equals to a p***ing contest. This is no exception.
Apple developing experimental keyboards makes me feel uneasy esp after the 2016 - 2018 keyboard debacle.
This would be really expensive and we all remember the price when Apple introduced the touchbar, a single, less complicated screen. It would also put some fragile screens on moving part you press thousands of times and we also remember how it went the last time Apple introduced a new keyboard technology. Keys are really simple devices right now and they break anyway.
Don’t think this will ever happen.
Don’t think this will ever happen.
I mean, that feature mostly exists (and has since System 7-ish). Enable the Input menu (System Preferences, Keyboard, Input Sources, checkbox at the bottom), then pick Show Keyboard Viewer.
It gives you a live view of what the current modifier keys will do. For example, without holding option:
With holding it:
All they would have to do per your suggestion is to automatically pop up this window (or perhaps a simplified version of it) when you hold a modifier key.
A third party could build that.
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I'm liking this concept a lot. Especially when I switch from typing in English to another language. Having language-specific keyboards will be a huge help, not to mention auto-correct helps big time when using a native language keyboard!
For the same reasons that there was a repair program running for the last failed keyboard technology that Apple released and then completely reversed course.
It’s people’s main interface with what is a work tool for many. Changes can make or break your interaction with the tool.
I am not surprised. One of the biographies even mentions that he was generally opposed to the idea of function keys even.
There's some merit to this comment. Take volume/power controls in cars. Will anything EVER beat a knob that you press for power and turn for volume? I don't think so.
I never ever want a touchscreen, buttons, slider, or a rocker switch for volume. NEVER.
At some point you reach an efficient simplicity that may truly be impossible to improve upon.
But for a company like Apple that hangs its hat on revolutionizing by minimalizing and/or fashionable changes, the quest to keep seeking fruit to pick in a tree that's been basically picked clean can bite you (the consumer) in the butt...iOS7...butterfly keyboard...bendable iPhones....arrow keys that aren't in a T-formation just for the sake of uniformity of appearance....hiding the mouse charge port under the mouse for appearance's sake and rendering the mouse unusable during charging--which happened to me while writing this post I swear to God!)
Let's hope we keep the basic keyboard layout but only certain keys one day enable this type of feature....like adding a light to a car's power/volume knob to indicate whether it's on or off, while retaining the knob.
Differing subject: As far as Apple's keyboards, one of my biggest pet peeves with Apple is their rendering the use of function keys primarily for control of the hardware. Probably 10 times a day I miss not being able to use function keys in Microsoft Excel the way they are usable on a PC. Maybe there's a way to enable that when using Excel but in typical Apple fashion it's not at all obvious but hidden away under a google search.
This would be an excellent feature. multi language, specific functions in apps, frequently used symbols, et, etc.... Please do it Apple....
for those who complain, the article specifically says the keys will have scissors mechanism, same size and felina keys but with expanded functionality...
for those who complain, the article specifically says the keys will have scissors mechanism, same size and felina keys but with expanded functionality...
I hadn't even thought of this!! This would be an ideal solution for something like an iMac, as TouchID has become a part of my workflow...
When I read this article I heard Fortunate Son playing in my head and had a flashback to when we were all discussing this exact same thing before they shipped the TouchBar. If Apple wants to provide a new means of input on the Mac it should be a touchscreen. Their entire rationale about touch screen notebooks being uncomfortable to use makes zero sense once you stop and realize that touch would not be the ONLY input method on those devices. This is a solved problem, they are just hell-bent on solving it differently than every other company has.
Yep -- my guess is that this could replace the Touch Bar as well, since it would give flexibility to those who prefer top-row function keys vs. those who would like media controls or other contextual controls.
Steve Jobs was also known for changing his mind quite readily, so one anecdote doesn’t really guarantee “Steve Jobs wouldn’t make that product”.
I know, it's not something that happens constantly, but I find that I have to proofread posts to make sure that I don't have sporadic repeated characters. And the whole ; instead of ' has gotten bad. *shrug*
Does the keyboard have to be consistently bad to get fixed? I'll read the details. I did have a key refuse to work, and by thumping it harder than normal for a while, it started working better.
EDIT: I think that key that had to be thumped was the 'n' key. Sigh...
Thinking of how they could pull this off, having images on each key cap, I can't think of a way short of making the keyboard a flat piece of glass like the touch pad, which sounds horrid, but sexy too. It would make the keyboard a heck of a lot 'thinner', so is Jony going to be jealous? Whether they put 'fences' around where the characters are will make it more interesting, but technically *any* keyboard could be setup for *any* language. I don't know how it would be typing on basically a larger iPad screen, but it's not like we haven't been in training for that to happen. Maybe they could embed a 'taptic engine' and give the impression of key clicks. *shrug*
It could actually work...
It could actually work...