iPad keyboard argh
Sep. 12th, 2013 09:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysobelI like doing a duolinguo review right before settling down to sleep (under the theory that it gets my brain churning spanishly while I sleep), which means I am on my iPad. Now, the duolinguo website has buttons you can click to type in the letters that are in Spanish but not English (áéíóúüñ¡¿), but the iPad app doesn't, because the default keyboard has these, via holding down the appropriate bit of the keyboard to bring up variations.
Now there is a feature of the on-screen keyboard that I very much take advantage of, which is that you can undock and split the keyboard, which divides the keyboard into two smaller chunks, such that you can -- for a not-at-all-arbitrary example -- type with your thumbs while holding the edges of the iPad in landscape mode.
This does mean that individual keys are smaller, and with my glasses off things are not perfectly clear, but I have decent accuracy, and keyboard layout is familiar enough that I know where things are.
What I don't know is where the special letters are.
And it makes NO FLIPPING SENSE WHATSOEVER.
Problem the first: I can distinguish some special letters -- ę įœøæ etc -- but mostly I see them as "vowel with blobby bit above". If I have the keyboard not split I can see a bit better because the keys are twice the size, but I can't reach the middle of the keyboard easily.
Problem the second: there is no consistent order.
ęēė éeèêë
ū úüuûù
įì īïiîí
õōœø óòöoô
æãåā aàáâä
(they are each two lines, so the space represents the break)
Notice that it's not something as straightforward as always doing / accent followed by ^ accent followed by \ accent, or the umlaut (no, dearest iPad, not inlay) always being on the top row, or whatever.
This is beyond frustrating.
Argh.
(luckily duolinguo treats accent errors as typo rather than full mistake, but it still drives me crazy.)
Now there is a feature of the on-screen keyboard that I very much take advantage of, which is that you can undock and split the keyboard, which divides the keyboard into two smaller chunks, such that you can -- for a not-at-all-arbitrary example -- type with your thumbs while holding the edges of the iPad in landscape mode.
This does mean that individual keys are smaller, and with my glasses off things are not perfectly clear, but I have decent accuracy, and keyboard layout is familiar enough that I know where things are.
What I don't know is where the special letters are.
And it makes NO FLIPPING SENSE WHATSOEVER.
Problem the first: I can distinguish some special letters -- ę įœøæ etc -- but mostly I see them as "vowel with blobby bit above". If I have the keyboard not split I can see a bit better because the keys are twice the size, but I can't reach the middle of the keyboard easily.
Problem the second: there is no consistent order.
ęēė éeèêë
ū úüuûù
įì īïiîí
õōœø óòöoô
æãåā aàáâä
(they are each two lines, so the space represents the break)
Notice that it's not something as straightforward as always doing / accent followed by ^ accent followed by \ accent, or the umlaut (no, dearest iPad, not inlay) always being on the top row, or whatever.
This is beyond frustrating.
Argh.
(luckily duolinguo treats accent errors as typo rather than full mistake, but it still drives me crazy.)
no subject
Date: 2013-09-13 04:49 pm (UTC)I tried a "shortcut" -- to transform a,,a into á -- but the OS requires shortcuts to have two or more characters.
Grrr.
I thought of you when I read about the Trident Case line of iPad (and many other tablet/phone) cases and mounting devices. These are not for the "special needs" market, so they are attractive, practical-looking, and a helluva lot cheaper. One could have a mount on the bed and another on something with metal pipe: the case permits rapid unlock from one to the other. I haven't had my hands on it, but there's a lot of positive raves online.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-13 04:56 pm (UTC)If it helps at all, though, I didn't even know you could undock and split the iPad keyboard! That's awesome, and I really appreciate knowing. Thanks for mentioning it! :)