Arrow Keys for Cursor Control

[Fat Fingers]

I have seen a common complaint on many forums and am shocked that no keyboard apps (that I can find) have this functionality. This is such an issue to me personally that I may end up returning my Droid for a device with a trackball. The needed feature is cursor control with arrows. Using the tap method to get the cursor in between two letters is virtually impossible to do correctly/consistently. No matter how "Smart" the keyboard ever gets, people like me (FAT FINGERS) will still always have a need to go back to correct errors. Without having arrows on the virtual keyboard, it is brutal to do....With the Droid, sliding out the physical keyboard to use the pad is cumbersome.....While I would prefer the arrows be on the main keyboard screen, I can live with it being on one of the secondary screens.

I would gladly pay for a keyboard app with this functionality.

Cyril, can you save my Droid by introducing this feature into your app?

[cyril]

Hi
The only problem is that there is no more room in the layout to put extra keys again, so these arrows cannot be on the main keyboard. Controlling the cursor with swipe gestures would be trivial, would it be enough for you ? Otherwise there could be a specific action (long press on some key or swipe gesture) to pop up a temporary arrow pad over the keyboard, but it will require more work to implement

[Fat Fingers]

To be honest, I don't really follow the concept of the swipe gesture (for this purpose or any other). I have seen it referenced in this forum (and others), but am not really familiar with it. Can you briefly describe it to me, especially how it would relate to cursor control?

Keep in mind, I only think we need the left and right arrows, I think the tap method is sufficient for up and down cursor control. If adding up/down is no more work and easy to implement, I guess it would not hurt, but if it helps the cause by only having left/right, I think that is a fair sacrifice.

The pop up arrow pad triggered by a long press of a key sounds ideal. If you go this route, I am thinking that including up/down as well would make sense.

On behalf of my new Droid and me, thanks for providing hope.

Again, based on what I have read it other forums, especially from former BB owners who are used to track balls, this functionality could really separate your app from the competition.

[Fat Fingers]

While I don't exactly understand what you have in mind with the swipe approach, I am bit concerned about how I would be able to get the cursor to stop exactly where I want. Having said that, if the swipe solution does wok and it is somehow tied to a specific key(s), the space bar and delete key seem like good candidates.

[cyril]

Swipe is moving your finger across the keyboard (from left to right, top to bottom, etc)
I can associate a left to right swipe to the right arrow, and a right to left swipe to the left arrow, but I'm not sure it would be easy to use that way... Or I can create a new layout containing arrow keys, accessible with a swipe gesture, or with the 123 button (my preferred solution)

[Fat Fingers]

I agree that a new layout accessible via swipe or 123 would be better......I think the swipe method for cursor control would not be as easy to work with......Love it if you could get this done......Thanks a ton.....I have been using your free version, but am going to upgrade to the Pro now.

[cyril]

So what I propose is a new layout with arrow keys; I may add tab, home, end, etc. if possible in this layout.
It will be accessible with
- swipe gestures
- optionally with 2 presses on 123 key: the sequence for this key will be "ABC"-> "123" -> "< >" -> "ABC"

Is it fine ?

[Fat Fingers]

So what I propose is a new layout with arrow keys; I may add tab, home, end, etc. if possible in this layout.
It will be accessible with
- swipe gestures
- optionally with 2 presses on 123 key: the sequence for this key will be "ABC"-> "123" -> "< >" -> "ABC"

Is it fine ?

Option 2 is perfect.

Option 1 sounds good. What specific swipe gesture would it be? Would it be tied to a swipe of a specific key or swiping the entire keyboard? Which direction would one swipe (I have no preference, wondering what people/you find to be the easiest)?

[cyril]

It will be a new action in the already existing swipe options, which means the user can choose which swipe has to be used for that. And yes it is always across the entire keyboard (for now)

[Fat Fingers]

It will be a new action in the already existing swipe options, which means the user can choose which swipe has to be used for that. And yes it is always across the entire keyboard (for now)

Perfect. You are the man!!!! How does this enhancement fit into your priorities?