Anyone know of a customizable/skinnable keyboard?

[Tye]

I am looking for an SIP keyboard that I can skin and change to my own preferences. Something like SPB's Fullscreen Keyboard but only for stylus input.

There are a lot of really great input methods out there and I'd like to combine elements from a few of them.

If nothing else, is anyone interested in taking on a challenge like this?

Thanks!
Tye

[Dave Beauvais]

I think Resco Keyboard Pro (http://www.resco-net.com/keyboard.asp) might be what you're looking for. I haven't used it, but the product page does show that it's skinnable and has customizable layouts.

[dh]

I would love to see a skinnable version of Fitaly. The keyboard is great, but compared to the version they make for the Clie it's so booring to look at.

[Tye]

Dave,
Thanks for getting me to look at Resco again. It is almost exactly what I needed. Close enough for now anyway. I looked at it awhile back because of its skinning options but didn't realize just HOW much I could skin. Thought I could only skin colors at first but came to find out that the whole layout can be changed. Thanks again!

dh,
Yeah, you're on the same track I'm on. Fitaly is a great, great program but they haven't had an update in, what? Over two years? There are a lot of "minor" changes to the layout that I'm working on too. If you have any ideas on how you what you want improved, I'd like to know.

[jajasonvich]

Hello Tye,

I did a couple of FITALY type layouts for the resco KB...

Here is the link to give you some ideas if you want them :)

http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=99104&perpage=15&pagenumber=2

[Tye]

jajasonvich,

Wow, talk about parallel development.
I've come up with a basic layout that I already like better than the standard layout. I'm using a phone pad style number pad. The sliding numbers in the standard layout drive me crazy. I also made the standard keys just slightly narrower.
Even though the black and white layout never really bothered me I am trying to add color to divide the different areas.

I need to do more tinkering. Also want to see if I can add Home and End keys to Resco. As the layout progressed I found that I had more space than I realized and now I'm "filling in blank spaces."

A couple of questions for you:
What are you using to design your skins? Photoshop doesn't seem to be very strong for things like this. Making three changes across the panels is very tedious. I admit that my skills are on the low end.

Has anyone noticed that the Cleartype option on Resco doesn't seem to do anything? Is it just my eyes?

[jajasonvich]

Tye,

Yeah, I am using photoshop but it seems pretty easy for me... I do the first panel first with all of the hotspots. I don't really start on the skin untill the layout is set... for small tweaks of changing actually letters I will usually only modify the .map file instead of the .png I really love how incredibly free-form the keyboard is (meaning you can litteraly make any kind of design that you like). As far as cleartype go's I don't see much differance either.

Post a pic of your layout when your finished so everyone can see the fruits of your hard work

[dh]

Hey Guys, the Resco keyboard looks to be great for making a Fitaly keyboard that isn't so 20th Century.

I downloaded your one jajasonvich, it's great just what Fitaly should be. The only slight issue that I have is that the lower case characters are not too easy for me to read. Of course, if I knew my way about the Fitaly keyboard better that wouldn't be a problem. (Edit - I since discovered I can simply make the font a bit bigger).

I don't understand why the Fitaly guys have not done something like this. I would have happily paid them for an upgrade, now it looks as though Resco will get the business instead.

Thanks for making the skin available.
http://www.rfidnews.net/Keyboard.jpg