Raphael Salgado
03-31-2006, 04:00 AM
If there's one thing I don't like about the integrated slide-out keyboard of the HTC Wizard and Apache series is the fact that frequently-used keys are special characters, including the numbers 0-9. There's no Control key to make the Cut/Copy/Paste/Undo keyboard shortcuts, either. Of course, I haven't mentioned the annoying fact that most times you want to use the slide-out keyboard, the soft keyboard panel pops up and takes up nearly half the landscape screen.<br /><br />What I'm proposing is a customized Soft Input Panel (SIP) for landscape mode to work as a supplement to the slide-out keyboard of the HTC Wizard, Apache, and the upcoming Hermes.<br /><br />Is there anyone willing to take a swing at this and gain extreme popularity in the HTC community? ;) Read on!<br /><!><br />Since the slide-out keyboard is relatively close to the landscape-oriented screen, it would be simple enough to reach the keyboard icon with your thumb to activate the SIP, as well as tapping the wide on-screen keys that usually take two or three hardware keystrokes to get. <br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/salgado_proposed_sip_1.jpg" /><br /><i>Figure 1. A mockup screenshot of what the SIP could look like. Landscape-friendly and thin design will be much appreciated.</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/salgado_proposed_sip_2.jpg" /><br /><i>Figure 2. When the SHIFT key is pressed on the slide-out keyboard, you can access punctuation and symbols just like traditional keyboards.</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/salgado_proposed_sip_3.jpg" /><br /><i>Figure 3. When the DOT key is pressed on the slide-out keyboard, you can manipulate text and access the backslash key, which normally takes three keystrokes.</i><br /><br />Some information (though somewhat dated) on where to get started on developing a SIP:<br /><a href="http://www.pocketpcdn.com/sections/sip.html">Pocket PC Developer's Network: The Soft Input Panel (SIP)</a><br /><a href="http://www.pocketpcdn.com/articles/im.html">Pocket PC Developer's Network: Custom Sample SIP</a><br /><br /><br />Some of the possible technical challenges when creating this SIP:<li>the Keyboard SIP tends to hide itself when a hardware key is hit, so it's possible that the custom SIP will keep trying to hide.<br /><li>Detection of landscape mode. It should revert back to the normal Keyboard SIP if portrait mode is detected.<br /><li>Detection of the SHIFT and DOT states for both Wizard and Apache. You might want to look into the CapsNotify.exe on the Wizard to see how the EnableIndicator can detect the states. The Apache has no such program.<br /><li>Understanding any differences between the hardware keyboards and software drivers for the Wizard, Apache, and Hermes.<br />Some of the possible options or features of the SIP could include:<li>customizable buttons<br /><li>vertically-resizable keys<br /><li>floating SIP capability<br /><li>tapping sound effect<br /><li>"Select All" (Control+A) to highlight a line or field of text<br /><br />So, I believe your work is all cut out for you. I think this would be a precious little gem of software that will resolve the annoying issue that should have been addressed by Microsoft long ago, and I for one would be willing to pay for it. Any takers? How would you make this idea better?