Thumb-Key

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About

Thumb-Key is a privacy-conscious smart keyboard, made specifically for your thumbs.

It features a 3x3 grid layout, as many older phones had, and uses swipes for the less common letters. Initial testing shows that you can reach ~25 words per minute after a day of use.

Instead of relying on profit-driven, privacy-offending word and sentence prediction for accuracy, as do most popular phone keyboards like Gboard and Swiftkey, Thumb-Key uses large keys with predictable positions, to prevent your eyes from hunting and pecking for letters.

As the key positions get ingrained into your muscle memory, eventually you'll be able to appromixate the fast speeds of touch-typing, your eyes never having to leave the text edit area.

This project is a follow-up to the now unmaintained (and closed-source) MessageEase Keyboard, which is its main inspiration.

founded 2 years ago

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dessalines@lemmy.ml

Help with further customization (lemmy.ml)

submitted 6 months ago by sv_memes1@lemmy.ml to c/thumbkey@lemmy.ml

2 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hi everyone, I'm new to using Thumb-Key and the likes (though I used regular 9-key keyboards back in the day), and I'm really liking. I already got the hang of customizing YAML and changed a few things on my Portuguese Split layout, though there are a few things I'm not 100% getting right and, if y'all could, I'd love some pointers. Attached, is my current layout and YAML file.

What I'd like to do: 1- Switch the space key with the backspace key (respectively, currently they are key0_1 and key2_2). 2- Remove the swipe-for-cursor from "?" key (key1_2), which is a space key that I've changed the text.

Can that be done? If so, what settings should I input in my YAML file?

Minor things, not necessary but cool if it could be done: -Can I alter the background color for "?" key (key1_2) so it's black like the other keys? -Can I alter the alpha for the swipe keys in the "?" key (key1_2) so they're not white like the main key, and instead be dulled like the copy, cut, paste keys from emoji key (key1_0)? -Is it possible to bind double quotes (") to a key? If I try { text: """ } the YAML returns an error message. Single quotes work, though.

My YAML file:

spoiler

PTTypeSplit:
  main:
    key1_2:
      swipeType: EIGHT_WAY
      center: { text: "?", size: LARGE }
      left: { text: "!", size: SMALL }
      top: { text: ";", size: SMALL }
      bottom: { text: ":", size: SMALL }
      right: { text: "-", size: SMALL }
      topRight: { remove: true }
      topLeft: { remove: true }
      bottomLeft: { remove: true }
      bottomRight: { text: "_", size: SMALL }
    key2_2:
      center: 
    key3_1:
      center:
  shifted:
    key1_2:
      swipeType: EIGHT_WAY
      center: { text: "?", size: LARGE }
      left: { text: "!", size: SMALL }
      top: { text: ";", size: SMALL }
      bottom: { text: ":", size: SMALL }
      right: { text: "-", size: SMALL }
      topRight: { remove: true }
      topLeft: { remove: true }
      bottomLeft: { remove: true }
      bottomRight: { text: "_", size: SMALL }
    key2_2:
      center: 
    key3_1:
      center:
  ctrled:
    key3_1:
      center:
        keyAction:
    key0_3:
      center:
        keyAction:

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[–] Toldry@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Hey, I'm the developer of the key modification feature. I'll try to help:

What I’d like to do: 1- Switch the space key with the backspace key (respectively, currently they are key0_1 and key2_2).

Currently, there is no way to change the size of keys using the key modification YAML. You can write this as a feature request in GitHub, but I FYI I'm not dedicating a lot of time to ThumbKey right now, so don't expect quick [or possibly any] delivery.

2- Remove the swipe-for-cursor from “?” key (key1_2), which is a space key that I’ve changed the text.

I may be unaware of some feature (since I use a very small subset of all available keyboards). What are you referring to by "swipe-for-cursor" ?

Can I alter the background color for “?” key (key1_2) so it’s black like the other keys?

Currently not supported. Add a feature request.

Can I alter the alpha for the swipe keys in the “?” key (key1_2) so they’re not white like the main key, and instead be dulled like the copy, cut, paste keys from emoji key (key1_0)?

Yes, by using the color attribute like so:

color: SECONDARY

Possible values are

    PRIMARY,
    SECONDARY,
    SURFACE,
    SURFACE_VARIANT,
    MUTED,

I notice now that this is missing from the README. Would you be so kind as to maybe add it for me? Add @Toldry as a reviewer for your pull request if you do end up doing this.

Is it possible to bind double quotes (“) to a key? If I try { text: “”” } the YAML returns an error message. Single quotes work, though.

I think text: '“' should work. If not, look up the YAML specification on how to do this. It's definitely possible.

[–] sv_memes1@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 months ago

Thanks for the reply. I'll look up into it sometime later.