SlideType Keyboard blog

My workplace

2009-09-08T02:12:00.000+02:00

This is where i work, and where I develop personal stuff after work.

Dual head (when I can borrow the second display), my laptop and a fan just in case.

New key layout: numbers behind

2009-08-25T23:58:00.000+02:00

I guess you didn't expect ~~the Spanish Inquisition~~ this new layout:

I wish i can do customizable colors (and layout!).

New Release: alfa10

2009-08-24T03:31:00.003+02:00

New features:

Uppercase support.
Some symbols added.
Better letter preview popup.
Added settings menu shortcut, by long pressing "Enter/Next" key.

Several bugs fixed, hopefully now it always types what you expect.

New buttons

2009-08-23T21:44:00.000+02:00

I'm investigating on how to customize buttons, and made a possible design for buttons.
Is it me or they look a little ugly?

New Release: alfa9

2009-08-23T01:51:00.002+02:00

Changes:

Added settings menu (Currently only accessable through: Settings->Locale&Text->SlideType Keyboard Settings)
2 different configurable key layouts (as discussed in previous blog post).
Disabled hardware key processing (hopefully fixing back and space displaying junk bug).
Added menus in spanish.

HOWTO-ES: Instalar y configurar

2009-08-21T23:39:00.000+02:00

Descargar e instalar desde el Market (actualmente sólo está soportado en sistemas Android 1.5). Puedes usar este QR-Code:
Ir a Ajustes -> Idioma y país, y habilitar SlideType Keyboard.
Volver al inicio y ejecutar una aplicación, por ej: Mensajes->Mensaje Nuevo.
Dejar pulsado el dedo sobre el campo de edición de texto. Aparecerá un menú, seleccionar Método de introducción de texto->SlideType Keyboard.

UI enhancements

2009-08-21T22:29:00.007+02:00

People ask me to make keys bigger. There are several approaches:

Make keyboard and keys layout taller. This could have issues in small or landscape screens. On the other hand this keyboard is intended to be used in portrait mode.
Reduce margin around keyboard. This has to be done carefully, because margin makes sliding detection safer.
Make labels bigger. I know labels currently look horrible, overloaded and small, specially on actual phones. So this is a proposal.

UI as of version alfa7:

Proposed UI on different screen sizes:

HOWTO: Install & Configure

2009-08-21T22:16:00.005+02:00

Download and install from Market (currently only Android 1.5 or higher is supported). You can use this QR-Code:
Go to Settings -> Locale&Text, and enable SlideType Keyboard.
Go back and open an application with text fields, e.g. Messaging->New message.
Press and hold on the text field. A popup menu will appear, then select Input Method->SlideType Keyboard.

Introducing SlideType Keyboard

2009-08-21T22:04:00.003+02:00

Standard virtual keyboards have issues:

Full QWERTY keyboards have small keys.
Other keyboards require either pressing a key multiple times, or need a dictionary.

A solution to this requires more than just clicking keys. On multitouch devices there is Chord Typing), and for the rest a solution is sliding!

Self explanative animation and simulation in Javascript: http://www.latinsud.com/pub/slideType/

Download application using this QR-Code or link (currently only Android 1.5 or higher is supported):

(I'm releasing source code under Apache 2.0 License in september)