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Revision 1.7,
5th May 2010 www.touch-base.com\documentation\utilities Virtual Keyboards |
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There exist
a number of useful utilities to enhance the touch experience and some of these
utilities are integrated into the UPDD touch software. Virtual keyboards
(on-screen graphical keyboards) are one of the most useful touch applications,
especially where data entry is required and a physical keyboard is not
available.
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This
document highlights a number of virtual keyboards that we have used and
should be sufficient to satisfy most user requirements. This document does
not try to be a comprehensive review of available virtual keyboards and we
acknowledge that there are many more available, details of which can be
obtained via the internet. |
Windows
System keyboard
Since
Windows 2000 the system ships with a basic virtual keyboard, found under the
Accessibility program group. When first
invoked the system states that “the keyboard provides a minimum level of
functionality for mobility-impaired users. Mobility-impaired users will need a
utility program with higher functionality for daily use” the underlying message
is this is basic adaptation of a virtual keyboard. There is not a secure mode version so the
keyboard is not available when in a secure desktop, such as logging in etc.
Windows system virtual keyboard
Standard
system keyboards are acceptable as entry level keyboards that satisfy a
functional requirement but offer minimum extensibility. Where presentable and functional keyboards are
a requirement for professional and commercial usage there are a number of
licensed products available.
Eyesboard
The EyesBoard product from PlazaLOGIC
offers a high visual impact and enhanced functionality, offering both secured
and desktop keyboards.
Eyesboard Virtual Keyboard
Evaluation
software and full documentation is available on their site. The keyboard
actions can be controlled from applications via an Eyesboard
API. Documentation regarding the API and registry
settings and a small API demo application can be downloaded from here.
Keyboard
template files can be easily edited. Keyboard template files (board.xxx.yyy.xml) define the keyboard layout. For example,
to remove the option to close the keyboard (X in top right corner) the line command="eyesboard.close" is
deleted from the relevant keyboard XML file.
Many other
similar on-screen keyboards are available for Windows. Here is a small
selection:
Touch-It Virtual Keyboard
Available from Chessware SA
at http://www.chessware.ch/virtual-keyboard
Hot Virtual Keyboard
Available for Windows 7 from Comfort Software Group at
http://hot-virtual-keyboard.com
Free version also appears to be available at http://www.freevirtualkeyboard.com/
My-T-Soft Virtual Keyboard
Available from Innovation Management Group at http://www.my-t-soft.com
IMG's
My-T-Soft Family includes My-T-Pen, My-T-Soft, My-T-Touch, OnScreen
for Assistive Technology, and Build-A-Board Keyboard Designer Tools.
The latest Build-A-Board Keyboard Designer Tool, supporting
many OS, is available June 2010 and offers the ability to create a single
button macro or hundreds of keys and interlaced panels.
Oska On-Screen Keyboard Application
Available from Claro Software at http://www.oskaworld.com/category/oska-for-touch-screen.php
Comfort On-Screen Keyboard
Available from Comfort Software at http://www.comfort-software.com/on-screen-keyboard.html
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Comfort On-Screen Keyboard supports all characteristics of the regular keyboard (for instance, repeated keystrokes when you hold down a key) and has additional advantages:
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UPDD Toolbar virtual keyboard option
The UPDD Toolbar function offers the ability to
associate areas of the touch screen with specific touch functions, such as a
single touch to invoke a virtual keyboard.
Toolbars are explained in full in the Toolbar
document.
A toolbar can be created specifically to invoke a
virtual keyboard and the keyboard option caters for the System and Eyesboard keyboards described above:
In this example a toolbar has been created such that
when the toolbar is touched the Eyesboard will be
invoked. The enabled Toogle
check box defines that the application is it be removed on touch if it is
currently active.
If a different virtual keyboard is in use then a
toolbar can be defined to invoke the keyboard application directly (via the
full pathname).
Windows Mobile
Pocket CM
This keyboard mimics the iPhone
keyboard and is available at http://www.pocketcm.com
TouchPal
Neat keyboard concept from CooTek
and is available at http://www.cootek.com
Mac OS X
System keyboard
Since Mac OS X 10.4 the system ships with a basic
virtual keyboard, which can be enabled under the System Preferences,
International, Input Menu.
Mac OS 10 system virtual keyboard
TouchStrokes
One of the most popular Mac OS X virtual keyboards
available is called TouchStrokes and can be found at http://www.assistiveware.com/touchstrokes.php.
Linux
xvkbd
Is a freely
available virtual keyboard program for X Window systems and can be found at
http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/.
Vkeyboard
Another freely
available virtual keyboard program for X Window systems and can be found at
http://kiosk.mozdev.org/.
The following keyboards are all documented at
http://tuxmobil.org/tablet_unix.html
xvkbd - virtual keyboard for X window system
xvkbd is a virtual (graphical) keyboard program for
X Window System which provides facility to enter characters onto other clients
(softwares) by clicking on a keyboard displayed on
the screen. This may be used for systems without a hardware keyboard such as
kiosk terminals or handheld devices. This program also has facility to send
characters specified as the command line option to another client.
GNOME On-screen Keyboard (GOK)
The GNOME On-screen Keyboard (GOK) is a dynamic on-screen keyboard for UNIX and
UNIX-like operating systems. It features Direct Selection, Dwell Selection,
Automatic Scanning and Inverse Scanning access methods and includes word
completion.
Florence
Florence is a virtual keyboard for GNOME that appears
on screen. It is adapted for people who are able to use a pointing device but
have difficulties using a real keyboard. It aims at being easy and pretty.
kbde
kbde is a keyboard emulator. The goal is to
provide tools for emulation of keyboard input on keyboardless
(x86) computers. It includes a keyboard emulator driver and a user-space program,
as well as a library which make it easy to write custom applications able to
create keyboard input emulation.
GTKeyboard
GTKeyboard is an application written in C with the aid
of the Gimp Toolkit. It is intended to help users with physical disabilities to
enter text into a simple editor, as well as to help them use other X11
applications that require keyboard input. GTKeyboard
allows the user to press keys on an onscreen keyboard that will either be
entered into a simple text editor that GTKeyboard
provides, or into the application of choice that the user specifies by clicking
on the window. It has also been used by people who have strange keyboard
layouts, and by people who for one reason or another cannot use a keyboard with
the machine in question.
matchbox-keyboard -- On-Screen
Keyboard
Matchbox-keyboard is an on screen 'virtual' or 'software' keyboard.
It will hopefully work well on various touchscreen
devices from mobile phones to tablet PCs running X Windows. You can embed
matchbox-keyboard into other applications with toolkits that support the XEMBED
protocol ( GTK2 for example ).
Contact
For further
information or technical assistance please email the technical support team at technical@touch-base.com.