The keyboard

[mikethebigo]

Hey guys,

I was trying to type as fast as I could on the keyboard and I realized something funny. Have you noticed that on the iPad keyboard, it doesn't register a key until you pick your finger up? I think this is why I have issues with typing too fast, and I can't figure out the advantage of programming it this way versus programming it to register a key when I press down on it.

I can't imagine the keyboard will ever be as efficient as a real keyboard as long as it's built this way (yes I mean duh, of course virtual keyboards are less efficient for tactile reasons, but this seems like another unnecessary barrier).

Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[fizzwinkus]

if you tap and miss, you can just slide over to the correct key and lift.

or tap and hold on a key and extra options will show.

 

[mikethebigo]

if you tap and miss, you can just slide over to the correct key and lift.

or tap and hold on a key and extra options will show.

The tap and miss works with the iPhone keyboard, where you can see what button you're hitting because it expands up above the key. You can barely tell with the iPad because the letter just gets dark under your finger. You miss less anyway, because the keys are so large. I don't think this implementation makes sense on the iPad.

 

[Stirolak26]

Here ya go:
http://www.techi.com/2011/04/the-ipad-docking-station-for-hipsters/

 

[KHC831]

here ya go:
http://www.techi.com/2011/04/the-ipad-docking-station-for-hipsters/

lol

 

[Don Kosak]

If you press and Hold certain keys, you get additional characters.

Try "a", or "e" to see all of the accents. "," and "." give you extra punctuation choices. Some letters like "l" give you symbols.

If iOS typed the character on "touch-down" (press) instead of "touch-up" (release), it wouldn't be able to respond to long presses to display the extra characters.

 

[mikethebigo]

If you press and Hold certain keys, you get additional characters.

Try "a", or "e" to see all of the accents. "," and "." give you extra punctuation choices. Some letters like "l" give you symbols.

If iOS typed the character on "touch-down" (press) instead of "touch-up" (release), it wouldn't be able to respond to long presses to display the extra characters.

Why not? Couldn't it type the character on "touch-down" and then just replace it if you ended up selecting a different character?

 

[rcp27]

As someone who has to type German reasonably frequently but can't cope with the transposed y and z on the German keyboard layout, the easy access to accented characters is really useful. The biggest problem I have with the iPad keyboard is the lack off tactile feedback. There are no useful ridges to find thebhome keys, so I keep finding I have typed a few whole words one character to the right or left. For serious typing there is always the Bluetooth keyboard, though.

 

[thelookingglass]

As someone who has to type German reasonably frequently but can't cope with the transposed y and z on the German keyboard layout, the easy access to accented characters is really useful. The biggest problem I have with the iPad keyboard is the lack off tactile feedback. There are no useful ridges to find thebhome keys, so I keep finding I have typed a few whole words one character to the right or left. For serious typing there is always the Bluetooth keyboard, though.

I wonder if the lack of tactile feedback is a gripe that'll go away in the future once today's toddlers, who've been trained on virtual keyboards, grow up. I was watching Tron last night and it was interesting to see the use of virtual keyboards in more than one scene.

 

[mikethebigo]

I wonder if the lack of tactile feedback is a gripe that'll go away in the future once today's toddlers, who've been trained on virtual keyboards, grow up. I was watching Tron last night and it was interesting to see the use of virtual keyboards in more than one scene.

I, too, thought that after watching Tron. One interesting thing to note is that the original Tron from decades ago had touchscreen keyboards, and they never gined traction then. They are widely available in mass consumer devices now, so we'll see if things are different this time around.

I will note that one thing going against touch screen keyboards is that there is no standard system yet. You rely fully on knowledge of the keyboard layout on touch screens since you have no tactile feedback. How can you get used to them when every type is different?

Still though, I would love it if anyone had a good explanation to my first question - I still can't figure out why the keys don't register on tap down insted of lift up.

 

[ZilogZ80]

Still though, I would love it if anyone had a good explanation to my first question - I still can't figure out why the keys don't register on tap down insted of lift up.

It's meant for 'peckers' (is that the term?!) rather than touch typists. If you see you've touched the wrong button, you slide your finger over to the right key and then release it.

Regarding tactile feedback - it'll happen eventually. Just needs someone to invent a display where the individual pixels can 'pop up' by a few thousandths of a millimetre when current is applied.

 

[darngooddesign]

I wonder if the lack of tactile feedback is a gripe that'll go away in the future once today's toddlers, who've been trained on virtual keyboards, grow up. I was watching Tron last night and it was interesting to see the use of virtual keyboards in more than one scene.

I can feel when my finger presses against the glass; that's tactile feedback to me.

 

[fizzwinkus]

Still though, I would love it if anyone had a good explanation to my first question - I still can't figure out why the keys don't register on tap down insted of lift up.

there have been several explanations, just none you liked.

 

[ZilogZ80]

I can feel when my finger presses against the glass; that's tactile feedback to me.

I think they mean so you can feel where you are on the keyboard or the edges of keys etc. without looking at them (which definitely makes touch typing quicker)

there have been several explanations, just none you liked.

lol

 

[darngooddesign]

I think they mean so you can feel where you are on the keyboard or the edges of keys etc. without looking at them (which definitely makes touch typing quicker)

I get that, but considering I would never expect to be able to touch-type on a virtual keyboard its just not something I would complain about. That and I can't touch-type.

 

[mikethebigo]

there have been several explanations, just none you liked.

I don't believe any of the explanations are good enough to justify the current, less efficient implementation.

 

[darngooddesign]

I don't believe any of the explanations are good enough to justify the current, less efficient implementation.

I'm quite happy with the implementation, makes it really easy to get to alternate characters.

 

[mikethebigo]

I'm quite happy with the implementation, makes it really easy to get to alternate characters.

Like I said, couldn't it still insert the character on "touch down" and just change it if you end up selecting an alternate character?

 

[darngooddesign]

Like I said, couldn't it still insert the character on "touch down" and just change it if you end up selecting an alternate character?

I think it has to wait until you release your finger in case you change your mind or pause there before continuing.

 

[fizzwinkus]

Like I said, couldn't it still insert the character on "touch down" and just change it if you end up selecting an alternate character?

what you have then, is it input the character, but could change it at any time, as it's waiting for you to lift your finger to finalize the input. - or exactly what you have now.

I don't believe any of the proposals are good enough to justify changing the current, more efficient implementation.

see how i did that?

 

[mikethebigo]

what you have then, is it input the character, but could change it at any time, as it's waiting for you to lift your finger to finalize the input. - or exactly what you have now.

I don't believe any of the proposals are good enough to justify changing the current, more efficient implementation.

see how i did that?

Well aren't you just unpleasant. I was just asking a question. What do you prefer I do, have the mods delete the thread if I was wrong?

 

[Kyotoma]

what you have then, is it input the character, but could change it at any time, as it's waiting for you to lift your finger to finalize the input. - or exactly what you have now.

I don't believe any of the proposals are good enough to justify changing the current, more efficient implementation.

See how i did that?

+1000

 

[porcupine8]

Well aren't you just unpleasant. I was just asking a question. What do you prefer I do, have the mods delete the thread if I was wrong?

I haven't been here very long, but this is the closest thing I've seen to a threatened flounce. Thank you for making these forums more amusing!

My question to you is: why don't you pick up your fingers between letters? I have several problems trying to touch-type on the iPad keyboard, but this has not been one of them. Actually, I just tested this and if you hold down one letter while typing another, it goes ahead and types both in order. It does not wait for you to pick up your finger from the first one. So how exactly is it giving you problems?

 

[fizzwinkus]

Well aren't you just unpleasant. I was just asking a question. What do you prefer I do, have the mods delete the thread if I was wrong?

it only happens when someone tries to improve on what we have now by suggesting exactly what we have now, while deriding what we have now.

 

[mikethebigo]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)

Okay, after investigating a little further, you guys are right. The keyboard does recognize input on the "touch down". Even if I haven't released the key, if I press another one, it will input the characters into the text field in the correct order. Guess my point is moot!