the Icelandic key-board is random

[Saevar Steinn]

I was going to use the icelandic version of the keyboard but it is unusable. The letter are in random places.
It would be great if this could be fixed and I would love to give an opinion if needed about the layout.

[Bill Filler (bfiller)]

 Thanks for reporting this issue. If you could give us an idea of what the layout should look like we can certainly try to fix it. Maybe a screenshot of a proper and looking Icelandic layout?

[Saevar Steinn (sveppir)]

Hi and thanks for the reply.

I´m thinking something along these lines:

qertyuiopð
asdfghjklæ
zxvbnmþö

And then the email and webadress keyboards the same as in English as there is no need for special icelandic characters there.

Thanks,
saevar

[Michael Sheldon (michael-sheldon)]

Doing a quick google image search for icelandic keyboards your suggestion seems to make sense, I'm guessing there should be a "w" in between the q and e and a "c" between the x and v though?

[Saevar Steinn (sveppir)]

Hi,

well, yes. But "w" and "c" are not in the alphabet so they are strictly
not necessary. We use "æ", "þ", "ð" and "ö" a lot so it's really not cool
hiding any of them just to keep "c" or "w" on the keyboard. Or that's my
opinion. If one needs to wrote words in english containing "w" or "c" the
english keyboard is always just a click away:)

2015-12-03 12:23 GMT+00:00 Michael Sheldon <email address hidden>:

> Doing a quick google image search for icelandic keyboards your
> suggestion seems to make sense, I'm guessing there should be a "w" in
> between the q and e and a "c" between the x and v though?
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1522157
>
> Title:
> the Icelandic key-board is random
>
> Status in Canonical System Image:
> Triaged
> Status in ubuntu-keyboard package in Ubuntu:
> Triaged
>
> Bug description:
> I was going to use the icelandic version of the keyboard but it is
> unusable. The letter are in random places.
> It would be great if this could be fixed and I would love to give an
> opinion if needed about the layout.
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
>
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/canonical-devices-system-image/+bug/1522157/+subscriptions
>

[Bill Filler (bfiller)]

On Thu, Dec 3, 2015 at 7:40 AM, Saevar Steinn <email address hidden> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> well, yes. But "w" and "c" are not in the alphabet so they are strictly
> not necessary. We use "æ", "þ", "ð" and "ö" a lot so it's really not cool
> hiding any of them just to keep "c" or "w" on the keyboard. Or that's my
> opinion. If one needs to wrote words in english containing "w" or "c" the
> english keyboard is always just a click away:)
>
>
maybe "w" and "c" could be extended keys, poping up on a menu when long
pressing a certain key or keys? Would save having to switch to English..

> 2015-12-03 12:23 GMT+00:00 Michael Sheldon
> <email address hidden>:
>
> > Doing a quick google image search for icelandic keyboards your
> > suggestion seems to make sense, I'm guessing there should be a "w" in
> > between the q and e and a "c" between the x and v though?
> >
> > --
> > You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> > report.
> > https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1522157
> >
> > Title:
> > the Icelandic key-board is random
> >
> > Status in Canonical System Image:
> > Triaged
> > Status in ubuntu-keyboard package in Ubuntu:
> > Triaged
> >
> > Bug description:
> > I was going to use the icelandic version of the keyboard but it is
> > unusable. The letter are in random places.
> > It would be great if this could be fixed and I would love to give an
> > opinion if needed about the layout.
> >
> > To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> >
> >
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/canonical-devices-system-image/+bug/1522157/+subscriptions
> >
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are a bug assignee.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1522157
>
> Title:
> the Icelandic key-board is random
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
>
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/canonical-devices-system-image/+bug/1522157/+subscriptions
>

[Saevar Steinn (sveppir)]

Sounds great,

Also we use "í", "á", "ó", "ú" but they should just be pop up when long
pressing their parent keys.

Thanks,
saevar

2015-12-03 14:19 GMT+00:00 Bill Filler <email address hidden>:

> On Thu, Dec 3, 2015 at 7:40 AM, Saevar Steinn <email address hidden> wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > well, yes. But "w" and "c" are not in the alphabet so they are strictly
> > not necessary. We use "æ", "þ", "ð" and "ö" a lot so it's really not
> cool
> > hiding any of them just to keep "c" or "w" on the keyboard. Or that's my
> > opinion. If one needs to wrote words in english containing "w" or "c"
> the
> > english keyboard is always just a click away:)
> >
> >
> maybe "w" and "c" could be extended keys, poping up on a menu when long
> pressing a certain key or keys? Would save having to switch to English..
>
>
> > 2015-12-03 12:23 GMT+00:00 Michael Sheldon
> > <email address hidden>:
> >
> > > Doing a quick google image search for icelandic keyboards your
> > > suggestion seems to make sense, I'm guessing there should be a "w" in
> > > between the q and e and a "c" between the x and v though?
> > >
> > > --
> > > You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the
> bug
> > > report.
> > > https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1522157
> > >
> > > Title:
> > > the Icelandic key-board is random
> > >
> > > Status in Canonical System Image:
> > > Triaged
> > > Status in ubuntu-keyboard package in Ubuntu:
> > > Triaged
> > >
> > > Bug description:
> > > I was going to use the icelandic version of the keyboard but it is
> > > unusable. The letter are in random places.
> > > It would be great if this could be fixed and I would love to give an
> > > opinion if needed about the layout.
> > >
> > > To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> > >
> > >
> >
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/canonical-devices-system-image/+bug/1522157/+subscriptions
> > >
> >
> > --
> > You received this bug notification because you are a bug assignee.
> > https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1522157
> >
> > Title:
> > the Icelandic key-board is random
> >
> > To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> >
> >
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/canonical-devices-system-image/+bug/1522157/+subscriptions
> >
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1522157
>
> Title:
> the Icelandic key-board is random
>
> Status in Canonical System Image:
> Triaged
> Status in ubuntu-keyboard package in Ubuntu:
> Triaged
>
> Bug description:
> I was going to use the icelandic version of the keyboard but it is
> unusable. The letter are in random places.
> It would be great if this could be fixed and I would love to give an
> opinion if needed about the layout.
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
>
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/canonical-devices-system-image/+bug/1522157/+subscriptions
>

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package ubuntu-keyboard - 0.99.trunk.phablet2+16.04.20160107-0ubuntu1

---------------
ubuntu-keyboard (0.99.trunk.phablet2+16.04.20160107-0ubuntu1) xenial; urgency=medium

  [ CI Train Bot ]
  * Resync trunk.

  [ Michael Sheldon ]
  * Fix the Icelandic keyboard layout (LP: #1522157)
  * Switch to Ubuntu.Components 1.3 and QtQuick 2.4 (LP: #1531907)

 -- Michael Sheldon <email address hidden> Thu, 07 Jan 2016 16:14:02 +0000

[Tryggvi Björgvinsson (trickvi)]

I got kind of sad after updating to OTA-9 yesterday. I designed the keyboard and I agree it might seem random because it's not qwerty but I put in a lot of effort into improving the Icelandic keyboard which never really got any love but was a slight modification of the Danish one even if we have more letters. I might have taken it too far but I just decided to jump on the chance after I got it.

Here are a few of the changes I wanted and did incorporate:

* I wanted the accented characters like é ý ú í ó and á to be as close to being "first class citizens" as possible, e.g. é which shares a key with the number 3 means I have to press and hold e and then drag finger to get é instead of just long pressing (which would normally give me 3). The letter é is used far more in Icelandic than the number 3.
* I wanted English letters that are not frequently used in Icelandic like q w z and c to not take up so much screen space. (I ended up grouping them into two keys). A mobile keyboard is very small and having very infrequently used characters take up a whopping 4 keys didn't make sense. Instead we had to hide more frequently used characters like ö and ó behind o.
* I wanted to better fit characters like ð and þ on the keyboard (they look like an afterthought on the Android keyboard: "Oh no, we forgot þ, let's just put it here next to the space bar").
* I then wanted to move the most frequent letter in the alphabet "a" to a place on the keyboard where I don't have to bend my finger very awkwardly to press it, i.e. "a" should be closer to the middle.

That's when I realised I would have to redesign the keyboard and I rearranged all keys with the above in mind so I just drew up a keyboard more aligned with "thumb-typing" than normal finger positioning and the output was the Icelandic "mobile" keyboard (a mobile dvorak if you'd like).

I've been using it since it got released last summer and been loving it (I'm typing faster with less pain in my fingers).

I've showed it off at a few presentations I've given and explained it. In fact it was a nice anecdote for talks because the only open data corpus I could get my hands on was speeches from the Icelandic parliament so the keyboard is actually the most political keyboard in the word (with word suggestions based on parliamentary speech: I jokingly say I now call my wife "Esteemed wife").

So I'm sad with this change and it's even worse because the accented characters like á are not even close to be easy to select on in the longpress menu.

Would it be possible to resubmit my version as "Icelandic mobile" or something?

[Michael Sheldon (michael-sheldon)]

Hi Tryggvi,

 Sorry about this, I think for the default layouts for languages we should stick to the most common/traditional layout, currently the keyboard is a bit restricted in terms of alternative layouts as the plugin infrastructure is based primarily around having a single layout per language code, however we're working on making it possible for users to create their own layouts and distribute them as click packages which would seem to be the ideal mechanism for more experimental layouts like this.

[Tryggvi Björgvinsson (trickvi)]

Hi Michael,

I understand and I knew about the upcoming changes as we talked about them last May (any ETA?). I was just kind of hoping I'd be the only one using this for some time since the phones weren't available in Iceland when they came out (and probably still aren't).

I'll submit a patch to fix the Icelandic keyboard layout (it's actually now worse than most). I'll try to watch out for the release of the click package mechanism and if you need help I'm more than happy to help out but I'd probably need some direction.

Would it not be possible to make up a language code and get the mobile version in, i.e. something like the emoji keyboard. Have something like a language code "ism" (for Icelandic). I actually have code to generate these mobile keyboard layouts based on text so it could be done for all languages with little effort if you'd want this not to look too much like some crazy Icelander who wanted a non-standard layout.

[Michael Sheldon (michael-sheldon)]

Hi Tryggvi,

 While you wait for the ability to distribute custom layouts via click packages you can run the following commands to manually install your customised layout on a phone:

http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/14849367/

Hope that helps,
 Mike.

[Gunnar Snorri Ragnarsson (gunnar-snorri-ragnarsson)]

Is it just me or is there no k button on the keyboard, should be between j and l?

[Michael Sheldon (michael-sheldon)]

Hi Gunnar,

 Looks like you're correct, I'm not sure how that got missed; I'll make a quick fix for that now

Thanks!
 Mike

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package ubuntu-keyboard - 0.99.trunk.phablet2+16.04.20160506-0ubuntu1

---------------
ubuntu-keyboard (0.99.trunk.phablet2+16.04.20160506-0ubuntu1) xenial; urgency=medium

  * Update dependency on hunspell-sv (LP: #1579115)

 -- Michael Sheldon <email address hidden> Fri, 06 May 2016 15:42:21 +0000