Wishlist: Display visual feedback for xkbd layout change using notify-osd

[Dylan McCall]

Binary package hint: ubuntu-desktop

It would be great if Ubuntu applied the feature enhancement filed here ( http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=567880 ) to a future release, hopefully Karmic. I am nudging at this again in Launchpad (the opposite direction of the usual!) since really this works best with the wonderful notify-osd. It makes sense for Ubuntu specifically and not as much for the GNOME project with the more complex notification-daemon.

The idea is that every time the user changes his keyboard layout, a confirmation bubble should appear to explain it.

* This would really help users who actually do routinely change keyboard layouts to select the correct ones. It is not obvious to add the Keyboard Indicator applet to the panel, but there is really no other option to get visual feedback at the moment.

* As I have learnt from experience helping people with Windows, manufacturers in some countries (particularly officially multilingual ones) ship operating systems with multiple keyboard layouts available. Users tend not to expect this, and become confused if they accidentally trigger the layout change shortcut since there is no feedback to explain the matter (as when they change volume, for example) but their keypresses become hopelessly mangled.

* A step towards the system documenting itself as it goes, instead of the user needing to read manuals / consult the geeks downstairs. This is important, because down the line it lets distributors of Ubuntu customize it, perhaps with alternative keyboard layouts available out of the box, without generating any issues.

Other minor thoughts may spring to mind, such as that it just feels right and notify-osd looks pretty :)

[Philip Muškovac (yofel)]

Setting correct package and setting triaged as this is already being worked on upstream.