Would it be possible to separate the selection of a language and the selection of a keyboard layout?
On my PC, I type in 3 languages, German, English and Dutch. But I only use my German hardware keyboard for all languages. Switching keyboard layouts is confusing and slows typing speed. If I could leave my PadKeys layout, while changing the language and preselect the layout in settings, it would be very helpful.
What you are saying makes sense, and would not be hard to implement. However the trick is to keep the configuration simple for the user. It starts to feel clunky when you are having to select layout and language separately.
One idea might be to have an “freeze layout” switch which if unset (the default) leaves behavior as now. If it IS set, that layout stays unchanged, and only the language changes when selecting by the regular mechanism (either quick-switch or from list in settings).
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Tim McGhee
commented
This is a good idea. Implementing this could be as is simple as having two buttons instead of one: swap languages, swap keyboards.
Freeze layout could be more confusing by implying there's more to the layout that could change.
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Ys
commented
My country is Belgium, and I most often write in either English or Flemish (the Belgian variant of Dutch). My_Windows PC's keyboard layout is Belgian Azerty, which is what I also use wherever else possible. A_French keyboard layout is a close match, which is what I can select in TypeFinity to get an Azerty layout. However, if I set my TypeFinity language to English (UK), then I'm stuck with only Qwerty and I can't switch to Azerty layout the way I can under Microsoft Windows.
My wishful thinking is clear : to have the option of choosing English language for TypeFinity, while also having a possibility to select a (Belgian) Azerty keyboard layout for the TypeFinity on-screen keyboard..
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Anonymous
commented
Agreed. It's English, Danish and Chinese for me.
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Allen
commented
Hey PadKeys,
The "override layout" selector idea causing a selected layout to take precedence (and only the language changing) sounds like an awesome idea!
I think it would be very helpful to implement this.
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Thomas Schewe
commented
I have the same Problem here. I write in German and English and I don't want to switch the layout, cause I slows me down.
It somehow works with the Apple virtual keyboards (I am now writing with the German layout (the one QWERTZ w/o äöü, and don't ask me again, why I want to use PadKeys). I don't switch the language and autocorrection still works for *both* languages.
I have no idea, how you can implement it in an elegant way.
Your proposal sounds somehow good, but how will the language-switching work? A second entry in the list of keyboard? Or will it be necessary to "slide" to the PadKey settings and change it there? This would be pita.