Add floating keyboard functionality to Scribe-Android

[henrikth93]

Terms

• I have searched all open bug reports
• I agree to follow Scribe-Android's Code of Conduct

Behavior

When having a floating keyboard (one that you can move around, and is not fixated) you can not use the Scribe keyboard - the option does not show up.

Device type

Android 15 Vanilla Ice Cream

Versions

No response

[angrezichatterbox]

I think this could be a feature request. We currently don't support floating keyboard for Scribe-Android. Simple Keyboard did not have floating keyboard. In this case I would love to add this as a feature. But how should this be implemented. In case of keyboard they usually have a button to enable this. How should it be implemented here. Should we have a button that would make the entire keyboard float.

@henrikth93 @andrewtavis

[andrewtavis]

So on the keyboard it would have an extra button to make it float, @angrezichatterbox? If this is something that's standard for Android, then it'd be fine to add it in, but maybe we could also have a menu option to remove the option from the keyboard as I can expect that some people don't want a floating keyboard and this option being on the keyboard would be an annoyance.

[angrezichatterbox]

So on the keyboard it would have an extra button to make it float, @angrezichatterbox? If this is something that's standard for Android, then it'd be fine to add it in, but maybe we could also have a menu option to remove the option from the keyboard as I can expect that some people don't want a floating keyboard and this option being on the keyboard would be an annoyance.

So I am a iOS user and I have not used Android keyboards much, but as far as I know except Gboard not a lot of keyboards have the floating keyboard option. In Gboard there is a menu option to go to a menu within the keyboard where there are multiple options where one of the options is to enable and disable the floating keyboard.

I have tried using Swift Key by Microsoft and Yandex Keyboard both dont have the feature of floating keyboard yet. However they have the feature of making it one handed left by having it in the left or right.

So I am not sure if it is a standard across android keyboard and its right implementation.

[andrewtavis]

Thanks for looking into what other keyboard apps are doing, @angrezichatterbox! If we want to do some investigation in this issue so we know how to do it, then that'd be great. Based on the complexity we can then decide if it's worth it :) As far as iOS, we can also maybe look into left and right handed at some point, but I wouldn't say it's a priority.

[angrezichatterbox]

Thanks for looking into what other keyboard apps are doing, @angrezichatterbox! If we want to do some investigation in this issue so we know how to do it, then that'd be great. Based on the complexity we can then decide if it's worth it :) As far as iOS, we can also maybe look into left and right handed at some point, but I wouldn't say it's a priority.

I’d love to know your thoughts on a floating keyboard. In my personal use case, I find floating keyboards particularly useful for tablets and landscape phones. However, I’m not sure if it’s a necessary feature. Implementing it shouldn’t be too difficult, but I’ll need to look into it further. As for the keyboards I’ve tested on Android, most of them only support left and right-handed options.

I think we did discuss that once the UI elements are done we should think about tablet as well. Just thought about it when discussing this.

A point that I thought is if we were following native android standard and Gboard in particular and assume it would be standard that would follow through then we could consider moving forward with floating keyboard.

[andrewtavis]

I think that it's definitely something to look into, but I agree with you also bringing up tablets here. We need to make sure that Scribe-Android is looking good on larger devices before we add anything like this or left/right handed keyboards in :)

[angrezichatterbox]

I think that it's definitely something to look into, but I agree with you also bringing up tablets here. We need to make sure that Scribe-Android is looking good on larger devices before we add anything like this or left/right handed keyboards in :)

I think we must plan issues for checking into the app running on android tablets. I am happy to implement the floating keyboard if you're fine with it or should we focus first on the tablet checking and implementation first.

[andrewtavis]

I think we should focus on tablets first as these are dramatically more pressing for us as they need to be shipped on release :) Floating keyboards is a nice to have, which hopefully won't be much of a bother. I see the main value of this being in onboarding to the development team so that people don't get confused when they try to load the keyboard for the first time and don't find it because the emulator is on floating keyboard (as has happened to @henrikth93 and I).

[Linfye]

I have been using Gboard for about a year. Before that, I was using some Chinese input method software. I can tell you that almost all Chinese input methods have this feature, and they all have hundreds of millions of users. (like sogou, baidu, Xunfei...)

I'm not sure about the usage rate of this feature. But it's very useful when typing in full-screen mobile games and using two apps simultaneously in split-screen mode.

@angrezichatterbox Hope this could help you. 😊

[Linfye]

And yes, I also think this is a feature request.

[angrezichatterbox]

I have been using Gboard for about a year. Before that, I was using some Chinese input method software. I can tell you that almost all Chinese input methods have this feature, and they all have hundreds of millions of users. (like sogou, baidu, Xunfei...)

I'm not sure about the usage rate of this feature. But it's very useful when typing in full-screen mobile games and using two apps simultaneously in split-screen mode.

@angrezichatterbox Hope this could help you. 😊

Thanks for your input @Linfye on the issue. I guess this could be implemented as a feature. But I feel this could be implemented after considering the how does the keyboard look on the tablet and we should also have a discussion on where the button for enabling floating should be placed on the Keyboard. I would like your input on where was the floating keyboard button kept on the keyboards mostly. @Linfye

[Linfye]

There's no setting button on the current keyboard. I'd say maybe we use long holding space to activate the floating mode.

[angrezichatterbox]

There's no setting button on the current keyboard. I'd say maybe we use long holding space to activate the floating mode.

That's sounds like a good idea. But I think in iOS it is also a mode to activate track pad like feature for the keyboard.