[maemo-developers] Wishlist (was:Re: N800 and USB host mode)

[From: Florent de Dinechin]

 > Hitting the Wishlist is almost only a matter of writing down
 > a sensible rationale. You can do it.
(..)
 >I will put "USB host mode" in the Wishlist. I plan to update the
 > roadmap page on Fridays (if we have stuff to update).


So it seems I sent my suggestion to the wrong Wiki. Here it is again, 
then. It's user interface, I don't know where it belongs.

Wish #1:

Extend the current "drag-to-shift" paradigm on the virtual keyboard to 8 
directions. Use these to implement accents for accented languages (e+NE 
for é, e+NW for è, c+SW for ç, etc), and to remove the need for shifting 
in general. Show the shifted letters in very small colored font in the 
corners of the keys.
Possibly implement more complex gestures (e + NE then SE for ê, for 
example, or tilde, etc).

Rationale: French (but also Polish, Spanish and other) has a lot of 
accents and current input method is a pain. Proposed change should be 
simple to implement, considering that 4 directions are already there.
Showing the shifted characters when they are not obvious (i.e. for the 
symbol keys, not for the letters) will benefit everybody, not only the 
French :)


Wish #2
Provide system-wide gestures for common operations (send window back, 
close window, etc) and for more specific ones (e.g in the browser and in 
the file manager, right drag on a link/folder to open it in a new 
window, left drag for "back", etc). Publish an API and a style guide.


I also support the following wish of the old wiki:

Add a third "Hybrid" mode between Handwriting recognition and Keyboard 
input. It uses the keyboard screen as the main input source but also has 
a handwriting-recognition drawing square that replaces where the number 
pad is on the keyboard layout. Then, as we're typing, we can also use 
our default 16 user-defined macros we're allowed in the Teach area of 
the Handwriting Recognition window. This would allow for the best of 
both worlds in one screen, for those of us who can't get a BT keyboard 
right away.

Although of course, handwriting recognition should be performed in all 
the text input fields (possibly zoomed in place for the occasion), not 
in a graffiti-like area. The two input modes would just become: show the 
keyboard, or don't. I acknowledge that this requires a lot of GTK rewriting.

Best regards,

	Florent