Add option for semi-transparent keyboard

[Kris]

OK, this is not a real bug, rather a characteristic. But one that can be easily solved, thus I'd like to make a feature request.
Especially in the landscape mode, the onscreen keyboard takes up a large portion of the screen. Potentially it can overlap the window where the text is being typed into, so you cannot see what you're typing.
This could be VERY easily solved by letting users to set transparency level for the entire onscreen keyboard. Attached is my concept of maliit keyboard at 70% opacity on Ubuntu Touch phone, in landscape windowed mode.

UX fix
In System settings, the on screen keyboard option will allow a user to set the opacity for their OSK.

This will be a slider in the on screen keyboard option in system settings, with the options to set opacity from 50%-100%

[Kris (k-k-jacewicz)]

here is a small manual hack that makes transparency to proove that it is extremely simple and minimalistic. Yet, it is still a hack, would be great if it became a feature:
http://kriscode.blogspot.tw/2016/12/ubuntu-touch-oosk-qml-hack-for-transparency.html

[Michael Sheldon (michael-sheldon)]

Hi Kris,

 That's an interesting idea, I've modified the title of the bug to make it clear that it's a feature request and added design to see if they have any input :)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Alberto Mardegan (mardy)]

If this gets implemented, then we could maybe have a transparent keyboard on the lock screen.
People have been complaining about it:
https://lists.launchpad.net/ubuntu-phone/msg22972.html

[Timo Jyrinki (timo-jyrinki)]

I was a happy user of transparent Literki keyboard back in the days (http://wiki.openmoko.org/images/b/bf/Debian_timo2.png) so I agree this could be nice.

[K1773R (k1773r)]

@Femma
 why 50%-100%? cant we have 0%-100%? this way you can have a invisible keyboard while still being able to type!

[Kris (k-k-jacewicz)]

So happy to see this feature being added!
About the range, it is a decent range, but I was testing different opacities and I thing that 40% is somewhat extreme low value that somehow still makes sense in certain scenarios.

Also, I wonder if the very same slider setting could also be available directly from the system drop-down menu (sorry don't know the actualname) one where you have System, Time & Date, Battery, Sound, etc., there is currently a menu there called "Keyboard Layout" that only has one row called "Text Entry Settings...". I think it would be great to have the slider there as well, directly, just like "Sound" there is a volume slider. Two reasons:
1. The "Keyboard Layout" menu would be less wasteful in the space
2. It would allow for changing opacity without (in staged mode) switching context from current window to the window of Settings.

Also, I think that "Keyboard Layout" should be renamed, because:
1. It's long
2. It's missleading. There is no setting about the layout immediately in there. There is only further button to go into the "Text Entry Settings...". And with transpareny slider added as a 2nd option there, it is also not a Layout per se.

[pad (pad-lee)]

Hi!

For me the new layout is great, but I think it might be the best solution to chance only the transparency of the background of the keyboard an not of the letters. Because with 100% transparency letters you didn’t see were you typing.

At next probably for bright background dark letters are right (like the text messaging app, the web browser, the notes app, ..), but for dark backgrounds you will need bright letters (looks like the lock screen).

So I think the keyboard on the lock screen and the "general" keyboard are two different types.

Further we should be able to adjust the colour of the letters on the lock screen keyboard because the colour depends on your background on the Phone (Snowy Mountains need a dark colour, the Ubuntu magenta background need bright letters, ...).

Sorry for my bad English, I hope you will understand what I mean.

Greets!

[Kris (k-k-jacewicz)]

pad, the kyboard transparency actually works a bit different. Buttons are a separat layer atop the backdrop. These two layers can have same opacity set, yet they seem to be composited as a sum of opacities. Besides, making only the background of the keys partialy transparrent ould defeat the goal, because the keys surface would still hide most of the area (almost all) of what's under the keyboard. Unless you actually meant everything except the letters inside the buttons, meaning, everything except for just ythe letters (font). Not sure how that would work out, interesting but I'm still in doubts.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package ubuntu-keyboard - 0.100+17.04.20161214.1-0ubuntu1

---------------
ubuntu-keyboard (0.100+17.04.20161214.1-0ubuntu1) zesty; urgency=medium

  * Add custom opacity setting (LP: #1647603)

 -- Michael Sheldon <email address hidden> Wed, 14 Dec 2016 15:10:52 +0000

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

The design has not been changed yet.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

Unfortunately I don’t currently have permission to update my own design spec. In the meantime, here’s the wireframe.

To summarize: The top-level “Language & Text” screen should have page stack items for “On-screen keyboard” and “Hardware keyboard”. Both of those screens should start with a “Keyboard layouts” page stack item. The “On-screen keyboard” screen should follow this with a “Transparency:” slider, with ends labelled “None” and “High”.

When, and only when, you are interacting with this slider, the OSK should appear so that you can see the effect in real time.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

Specification updated. <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LanguageAndText?action=diff&rev2=66&rev1=65>