Proposal for a better text editor

[Chuck McKnight]

I love the fact that Rockbox has a text editor, but it's not exactly the easiest thing to use. The idea is right, but IMO the layout could be better. My proposal:

Only four lines of characters needed at the top:

Code: [Select]

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[ENTER]
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz[SPACE]
,.;:?!'"-+=*/\()[]<>@#$%&_|
1234567890These characters represent the ones on a standard keyboard most commonly used. The rest would be accessible from the menu. Comparable to inserting a symbol in Word.

The scroll-wheel would move sideways instead of up and down which the up and down buttons would do.

When the cursor moves down to the number row, it would jump to "0" if it was past the "j."

The overall idea is to minimize the amount of movement needed to get to the characters to allow for faster typing.

Opinions?



Edit: Another possible layout:

Code: [Select]

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
`1234567890-=[]\;',./[SPACE]
~!@#$%^&*()_+{}|:"<>?[ENTER]

[Chronon]

You can load your own custom keyboard layouts.  See here: LoadableKeyboardLayouts

[Chuck McKnight]

Ah, sweet. Thanks for the link!

I wonder why my searches didn't find that?

[Chronon]

Eh, sometimes I find I need to try a couple of different keyword combinations.  I first searched for custom keyboard, but that didn't give me the link.  Searching for keyboard layout returned the result that I wanted.  

Glad to be of service.  

[Alfox]

Thanks for this tip. The very small default font on the text editor is hardly visible to me and made it practically unusable.
I was wondering if all Rockbox users have 20/20 vision.

[pixelma]

Remember that the size you see a 8 pixels high font (like the default) is also dependent on the actual display's pixel size and the displays of the first Rockbox targets had larger pixels. And the developers were younger...

[DancemasterGlenn]

I had what is probably a bad idea, as it would probably limit the kinds of characters one could conveniently use (pretend for a moment, unrealisticly, that we're simply talking english characters and basic symbols), not to mention my idea only applies to the ipod models as far as I've thought it out, but I figured EVERYONE would be SUPER PUMPED to hear it anyway!

My idea (thinking out loud in type on the internet, I like to call it) would work similarly to entering your initials in an old arcade game. I picture all of the letters/numbers/symbols in one continuous loop at the top of the screen, that can be scrolled through by using the scroll wheel. There's a little arrow or something in the center of the screen, showing which letter you're on. The text in question is below this, and has its own line cursor that you can move forward or backward at any time with the next/prev arrows on the scroll wheel (this would be useful in not having to switch from letter choosing to cursor moving as it happens in the current setup). A short press of select could enter a letter, and a long press could delete a letter. Play and menu could work as they currently do, ending and saving and just ending, respectively.

In my admittedly port and language-specific model, with efficient scrolling, I think this could potentially be faster than the morse code method. Possibly. Others would probably want to try it out first. Being the super helpful guy who can't code to save his life (else I'd make a sample patch), I drew a handy-dandy picture...



I am the greatest artist ALIVE.

I'd honestly like to know if this is a stupid idea or not. I do realize it's limited in the sense that it's ipod specific in terms of conrols, and that the more letters it has, the longer it will take to scroll around, but excluding those VERY LARGE factors, is it still a silly concept?

EDIT: I do also realize this might be better as a flyspray post, but since this topic was open and active I figured I'd go for it. If someone does think it's a good idea, to flyspray it will certainly go.

[Llorean]

What exactly would be the point of excluding those factors when you yourself admit they're quite large?

[DancemasterGlenn]

I suppose I figured that certain targets do have port-specific features (sometimes related to available buttons, as this would be), as far as the port aspect goes. As far as limiting the amount of characters to a basic alphabet, numbers and characters, the morse code method seems to do something similar. In fact, using just the characters provided in morse code input in my model would not be much of a scroll at all, especially considering the loop letting you go backwards as well as forwards.

But of course, in the end I was mostly looking for your honest opinion. Do you think it would necessarily be a bad idea?

EDIT: That last bit is directed toward anyone who would like to share their thoughts, and not necessarily specific to Llorean (though I do want his opinion).

[j8048188]

I like the idea of the scrollable line.  it could work on the sansa e200 with the scroll wheel.

[shotofadds]

Personally I think there's a reasonable case for the on-screen keyboard to differ between targets. For something useful like the keyboard, it makes sense to implement it in a way that makes best use of the available hardware. If the scrollwheel's a good way to achieve that, so be it.

Similarly, keeping the current on-screen keyboard would be madness on the upcoming touchscreen targets.

But as always, it takes someone with an interest and the free time to imlpement such things.

[DancemasterGlenn]

Personally I think there's a reasonable case for the on-screen keyboard to differ between targets. For something useful like the keyboard, it makes sense to implement it in a way that makes best use of the available hardware. If the scrollwheel's a good way to achieve that, so be it.

Similarly, keeping the current on-screen keyboard would be madness on the upcoming touchscreen targets.

But as always, it takes someone with an interest and the free time to imlpement such things.

This is essentially what I was thinking when I posted before. When I stated that it was a strictly ipod change, it was mainly because that's all I have in my hand to conceptualize. If j8048188 also believes it could be workable on the e200, I'd be glad to hear it. The methods of text input as-is are workable, but since they can be slow to work with I find myself only using them when absolutely necessary. While it would be a lot of work to go through each target and decide whether a more appropriate editor would be useful given that player's button layout, it would be a project that would make rockbox that much more accessible to newer people (not unlike the update to the cabbie theme).

I'm still useless for actually making a patch, but I thought I'd throw out an idea or two anyway. The albums in pictureflow respond to the scrollwheel similarly to the way I imagine the letters working in my picture above (though it would obviously be less flashy). If the plugin loaded letters/numbers/symbols instead of album covers, that would at least be a decent way to see how one likes scrolling in that manner.

In terms of the D2, and other potential touch targets... has anyone played smash brothers brawl (probably a stupid question...)? I think the way you input text in the game would work really well on a touch target...



Essentially works like a phone keypad. each button could be touchable, and there could be a button that switches the letter buttons to number buttons. The actual text area would need to be bigger, but there would definitely be enough screen space on the D2 to handle it.

Just an idea. Ignore me if I'm making a fool of myself.

Anyway, the biggest hurdle to any of this (besides the obvious need of a motivated coder) is how to make it available for multiple languages. I'm still working that one out. But thanks j8048188 and shotofadds for your feedback.

[DefineByte]

I think something in-between the OP's and DancemasterGlenn's (1st) suggestions would be good for the Ipod.

Have separate lines for Capitals, lower-case, numbers and punctuation and move between them with a button press (short menu?). Each individual line would wrap to the start of that same line. FF/Rew to move the caret as suggested. Common punctuation grouped at the start (middle?) of the line (probably start with space, then fullstop etc.).

I'd like to see it anyway.

[psycho_maniac]

I think if anything happens to the keyboard layout. one thing that should really be changed is the size of the actual letters. On my gigabeat there freaking small. It would be nice if the font you chose for the wps would be the font for the entire player. Also I like DancemastersGlenn's 1st suggestions also

[MarcGuay]

I think if anything happens to the keyboard layout. one thing that should really be changed is the size of the actual letters. On my gigabeat there freaking small. It would be nice if the font you chose for the wps would be the font for the entire player.

If you set up a custom keyboard layout the font will be changed to the one used in the rest of the UI.