4 ms·

Vent: I'm on Android and still haven't seen a well done cursor scroll. It usually requires me to select the position accurately which is PITA. I wish there was

Vent: I'm on Android and still haven't seen a well done cursor scroll. It usually requires me to select the position accurately which is PITA. I wish there was a simple way to do that.

modeless 4y ago
Can I also vent about the lack of undo? I consider undo one of the most essential features of any computing device. How is it still simply not supported on the most widely used computing platform?
- climb_stealth 4y ago
  There's nothing like the feeling after typing a whole paragraph and accidentally deleting it without any way to undo. :) Anything more than a sentence I type in a notes app because of that
- arcanemachiner 4y ago
  On Android, undo is supported, but your keyboard has to support it. Sometimes I have to open Hacker Keyboard just I can press Ctrl+Z. There's probably a better way, but that works for the two times a year that I need it.
  - modeless 4y ago
    That's amazing, I need Hacker Keyboard apparently. All the features GBoard has and they never thought to add an undo button option?
- asudosandwich 4y ago
  Try tapping with three fingers to bring up a set of editing operations including undo & redo.
  - modeless 4y ago
    Seems like this is an iOS thing? I'm talking about Android.
- kergonath 4y ago
  You can shake your phone. You do look stupid, but it works.
  - modeless 4y ago
    Not on my phone. What phone does this work on? iOS? I'm talking about Android.
    - SanjayMehta 4y ago
      IOS
    - kergonath 4y ago
      Yes sorry, on iPhones.
tails4e 4y ago
Hold spacebar on android and drag lefg/right lets you cursor scroll really easily.
- markus_zhang 4y ago
  Thanks. Doesn't work on my phone. I'll check it out in product forum.
  - fire 4y ago
    iirc this is a google keyboard feature specifically; it was added sometime after the pixel 3 released, I think?
    - tails4e 4y ago
      The keyboard I have is Microsoft SwiftKey, on a Huawei P30, so could be multiple different ways of getting it.
      - fire 4y ago
        oh yeah swiftkey did clone the feature more recently!
- chasebank 4y ago
  This is also true for iOS. It used to be hold any key to move cursor, then they got rid of that functionality. I found out last week you can hold space bar! It's back!!!
  - kergonath 4y ago
    AFAIK it was Force Touch on any key, and they changed it to long touch on the space bar when they got rid of Force Touch.
- Diapason 4y ago
  Pixel5 and bilingual user -> space bar is hacked by a language change option on long press (can;t deactivate this feature:( ), although there is ALSO a dedicated (optional) key for that that I have activated :(
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
devilbunny 4y ago
Been a while since I've used Android, and it's no longer available (you'll have to find an old .apk, maybe it would still work), but Swype was hands-down the best phone keyboard I've ever used. It had an editing keyboard layout that allowed single-character movement of the cursor, easily selected by Swyping from the Swype key to something else (space bar, maybe?). Swype-X, Swype-C, Swype-V for cut, copy, and paste, and they actually worked well. Apple's knockoff is nowhere near as good, and routinely "forgets" custom words including curses. My text language is often not PG-rated, let alone G-rated.
- kyriakos 4y ago
  I'm super happy with Microsoft SwiftKey. With friends and family we type in a dialect which is not an official language but after using it for a bit it picked up most of the spelling I use and autocompletes sentences with good accuracy.
- Diapason 4y ago
  Came here to say this exact same thing. I still remember - November 2013, I was interviewing for some jobs in Boulder CO, and was invited to dinner by a tech entrepreneur. I showed him how good Swype was. Back then I had a tiny-weenie Xperia (S, or SL or U??). I remember clearly how blown away he was. And I remember clearly how enjoyable it was to actually be able to swype one handed. I did not even ever had a case protector for this phone, and managed to never break it because I would not drop it! I can't remember which of the phones I had after that with which I was so sad when i realized Swype had disappeared when I could not reinstall it :(I had tried Swift key, the Stock google, and I think another one, but none never came close to Swype learning algorithm :(
roguesherlock 4y ago
iPhone 7 with its 3D Touch had the best cursor scroll tbh. You hard press your thumb anywhere on the keyboard and use it like a mousepad to scroll around. I’m still mad that we don’t have that anymore.
- mickelsen 4y ago
  Ah yeah, for text handling and some item selection stories 3D Touch was the best. For the rest it never really caught on as it was like a right-click, with nothing self-evident and overlapping with the 'hold' interaction. I guess they just took it out because of the added cost to the panel, but I don't really miss it now.
- moepstar 4y ago
  Yup, kinda mad as well :/ It adds so much to usability once you've gotten used to it (doesn't take long imho)... One of the key reasons i still hold on to my 8 Plus... but i suppose iOS 16 will probably the last release they'll support on it so i better get used to the thought my next phone won't have it :(
frosted-flakes 4y ago
You might not know that you can forward-delete letters with Shift+Backspace, instead of backspace. The Samsung and BlackBerry keyboards both support this. Personally, I still use the BlackBerry keyboard on my Samsung phone because it has features that no other keyboard has. Namely: - Word predictions are on the keys themselves, and you select them by "throwing" them onto the page (see [screenshot 1]). This means there can be 6+ predictions on screen at any time, and since they're literally on the key you're about to press anyway it is so quick to just select the prediction instead of typing it out fully. On other keyboards the predictions are above the keyboard and using them means taking your eyes away from what you're typing. - Autocorrections are shown on the space key before you actually hit it, and if you don't want the autocorrection you can swipe up on the space key to select what you actually typed (see [screenshot 2]). - You can backspace a word with a left swipe across the keyboard. This is HUGE. When backspacing is this easy, when you make a mistake it's almost always faster to delete the entire word and retype it again from the beginning than it is to move the cursor. You can also backspace multiple words at a time by swiping with multiple fingers (great for editing URLs). - Swiping down across the keyboard cycles through the various symbol layers (you can create a custom layer), and selecting a symbol automatically moves back to the letter layer (you can sticky the symbol layer by opening it normally with the ?123 key). - The ?123 also acts as a Control key, so you can use common keyboard shortcuts like cut, copy, paste, undo, and select all. [screenshot 1] https://ibb.co/jVTPg7Q https://ibb.co/jVTPg7Q [screenshot 2] https://ibb.co/p1PTM1S https://ibb.co/p1PTM1S On non-BlackBerry Android phones the BB keyboard was never officially available, but someone made a cracked version that still works great even though it hasn't been updated in years. But you have to dig around to find the APKs ever since the website got taken down.

Vent: I'm on Android and still haven't seen a well done cursor scroll. It usually requires me to select the position accurately which is PITA. I wish there was a simple way to do that.

modeless 4y ago

Can I also vent about the lack of undo? I consider undo one of the most essential features of any computing device. How is it still simply not supported on the most widely used computing platform?

climb_stealth 4y ago
There's nothing like the feeling after typing a whole paragraph and accidentally deleting it without any way to undo. :) Anything more than a sentence I type in a notes app because of that
arcanemachiner 4y ago
On Android, undo is supported, but your keyboard has to support it. Sometimes I have to open Hacker Keyboard just I can press Ctrl+Z. There's probably a better way, but that works for the two times a year that I need it.
- modeless 4y ago
  That's amazing, I need Hacker Keyboard apparently. All the features GBoard has and they never thought to add an undo button option?
asudosandwich 4y ago
Try tapping with three fingers to bring up a set of editing operations including undo & redo.
- modeless 4y ago
  Seems like this is an iOS thing? I'm talking about Android.
kergonath 4y ago
You can shake your phone. You do look stupid, but it works.
- modeless 4y ago
  Not on my phone. What phone does this work on? iOS? I'm talking about Android.
  - SanjayMehta 4y ago
    IOS
  - kergonath 4y ago
    Yes sorry, on iPhones.

tails4e 4y ago

Hold spacebar on android and drag lefg/right lets you cursor scroll really easily.

markus_zhang 4y ago
Thanks. Doesn't work on my phone. I'll check it out in product forum.
- fire 4y ago
  iirc this is a google keyboard feature specifically; it was added sometime after the pixel 3 released, I think?
  - tails4e 4y ago
    The keyboard I have is Microsoft SwiftKey, on a Huawei P30, so could be multiple different ways of getting it.
    - fire 4y ago
      oh yeah swiftkey did clone the feature more recently!
chasebank 4y ago
This is also true for iOS. It used to be hold any key to move cursor, then they got rid of that functionality. I found out last week you can hold space bar! It's back!!!
- kergonath 4y ago
  AFAIK it was Force Touch on any key, and they changed it to long touch on the space bar when they got rid of Force Touch.
Diapason 4y ago
Pixel5 and bilingual user -> space bar is hacked by a language change option on long press (can;t deactivate this feature:( ), although there is ALSO a dedicated (optional) key for that that I have activated :(

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

devilbunny 4y ago

Been a while since I've used Android, and it's no longer available (you'll have to find an old .apk, maybe it would still work), but Swype was hands-down the best phone keyboard I've ever used. It had an editing keyboard layout that allowed single-character movement of the cursor, easily selected by Swyping from the Swype key to something else (space bar, maybe?). Swype-X, Swype-C, Swype-V for cut, copy, and paste, and they actually worked well. Apple's knockoff is nowhere near as good, and routinely "forgets" custom words including curses. My text language is often not PG-rated, let alone G-rated.

kyriakos 4y ago
I'm super happy with Microsoft SwiftKey. With friends and family we type in a dialect which is not an official language but after using it for a bit it picked up most of the spelling I use and autocompletes sentences with good accuracy.
Diapason 4y ago
Came here to say this exact same thing. I still remember - November 2013, I was interviewing for some jobs in Boulder CO, and was invited to dinner by a tech entrepreneur. I showed him how good Swype was. Back then I had a tiny-weenie Xperia (S, or SL or U??). I remember clearly how blown away he was. And I remember clearly how enjoyable it was to actually be able to swype one handed. I did not even ever had a case protector for this phone, and managed to never break it because I would not drop it! I can't remember which of the phones I had after that with which I was so sad when i realized Swype had disappeared when I could not reinstall it :(I had tried Swift key, the Stock google, and I think another one, but none never came close to Swype learning algorithm :(

roguesherlock 4y ago

iPhone 7 with its 3D Touch had the best cursor scroll tbh. You hard press your thumb anywhere on the keyboard and use it like a mousepad to scroll around. I’m still mad that we don’t have that anymore.

mickelsen 4y ago
Ah yeah, for text handling and some item selection stories 3D Touch was the best. For the rest it never really caught on as it was like a right-click, with nothing self-evident and overlapping with the 'hold' interaction. I guess they just took it out because of the added cost to the panel, but I don't really miss it now.
moepstar 4y ago
Yup, kinda mad as well :/ It adds so much to usability once you've gotten used to it (doesn't take long imho)... One of the key reasons i still hold on to my 8 Plus... but i suppose iOS 16 will probably the last release they'll support on it so i better get used to the thought my next phone won't have it :(

frosted-flakes 4y ago

You might not know that you can forward-delete letters with Shift+Backspace, instead of backspace. The Samsung and BlackBerry keyboards both support this. Personally, I still use the BlackBerry keyboard on my Samsung phone because it has features that no other keyboard has. Namely: - Word predictions are on the keys themselves, and you select them by "throwing" them onto the page (see [screenshot 1]). This means there can be 6+ predictions on screen at any time, and since they're literally on the key you're about to press anyway it is so quick to just select the prediction instead of typing it out fully. On other keyboards the predictions are above the keyboard and using them means taking your eyes away from what you're typing. - Autocorrections are shown on the space key before you actually hit it, and if you don't want the autocorrection you can swipe up on the space key to select what you actually typed (see [screenshot 2]). - You can backspace a word with a left swipe across the keyboard. This is HUGE. When backspacing is this easy, when you make a mistake it's almost always faster to delete the entire word and retype it again from the beginning than it is to move the cursor. You can also backspace multiple words at a time by swiping with multiple fingers (great for editing URLs). - Swiping down across the keyboard cycles through the various symbol layers (you can create a custom layer), and selecting a symbol automatically moves back to the letter layer (you can sticky the symbol layer by opening it normally with the ?123 key). - The ?123 also acts as a Control key, so you can use common keyboard shortcuts like cut, copy, paste, undo, and select all. [screenshot 1] https://ibb.co/jVTPg7Q https://ibb.co/jVTPg7Q [screenshot 2] https://ibb.co/p1PTM1S https://ibb.co/p1PTM1S On non-BlackBerry Android phones the BB keyboard was never officially available, but someone made a cracked version that still works great even though it hasn't been updated in years. But you have to dig around to find the APKs ever since the website got taken down.