The Development of the Keyboard Designer

When I started this app project, I had the goal of creating an app with which keyboards can be designed completely freely or a finished keyboard can be imported - with this version 5.3.0 this goal has now been achieved for me to the extent that I planned! But don't worry - my to-do list is still long!

For 2023 I wish you that you too achieve as many of your goals as possible, that your wishes come true and, above all, that you are healthy!

New:
- New function type: Show emoji selection (Settings in the design tab), please add if desired!
- View some with EDP downloadable keyboards from new website on the info tab
- EDP: Split and side shifted keyboards in design now adjustable (requested by many)
- EDP: Images can now be used as background for the word bar
- EDP: Emergency export if the clipboard contains "Emergency Export Request" and the Keyboard Designer is started (Thanks to Winter!)
- Emergency Keyboard (swipe from top left to top right, bottom right, bottom left, top left to activate)

Revisions:
- Improved identification of words (e.g. after quotation marks and brackets) (Thanks to Daz!)
- Word suggestions: Better consideration of language-specific characters (Thanks to Tomáš!)
- Fixed a character being deleted when accepting a suggestion and manually deleting the space (Thanks to John!)
- Popups higher than the keyboard are now fully displayed again (Thanks to Abdallah and David!)
- Fixed last row popups displaying too high (Thanks to Abdallah!)
- Fixed that on some devices two characters were sometimes written for language-specific characters (not English!) (Thanks to Frank and Bernd!)
- Vertical position of keyboard was sometimes not calculated correctly (Thanks to Abdallah!)
- Optimized the alignment of the press action symbol
- Fixed the keyboard height changing sometimes when rotating the device
- Calculation of the keyboard positions revised and thus the input is accelerated
- The system language is now always used in the Designer for language-dependent functions
- Show keyboard background on key preview
- Pre-assignment of colors when deselecting “color like design”
- Fixed that popup borders were sometimes shown at the wrong position
- Improved punctuation behavior after suggestion selection
- Fixed sometimes not maintaining keyboard height in designer
- Exported images of keyboards no longer include the version number
- Fixed not always using the customized color for the separator in suggestions
- Fixed that the keyboard used was sometimes not fully displayed during design
- Fixed that sometimes designs could not be deleted even though the function reference was removed
- The word bar can now also be placed under the keyboard
- EDP: TTF font files can now be shared directly to Keyboard Designer without having to save to a ZIP archive
- EDP: Images can now also be replaced during import
- EDP: Feature to copy color does now copy all properties
- EDP: Fixed that after importing designs twice, the keys were sometimes not displayed
- EDP: Fixed image files of marked keys not being exported
- EDP: Fixed icon selection taking up full screen on keyboard input
- EDP: Fixed the wrong mode sometimes being selected on import
- EDP: Multiple images and fonts can now be shared to the keyboard designer at the same time
- EDP: Color preview is now updated when an image is selected
- EDP: Color selection for navigation bar is only displayed with image selection for keyboard background (it is not needed elsewhere)
- EDP: Fixed that sometimes the image assignment of individual keys was lost
- EKP: Adjusted function keys for app ConnectBot (Thanks Mr. Perg!)
- EKP: Fixed special function for Shift (Thanks to Efrain!)
- EKP: Added special functions for navigation and directional pad (Thanks to Efrain!)
- EKP: New word substitution icon for word tab and word bar
- EKP: Invisible keys are now grayed out in the designer
- Changes for Android 13

Revisions:
- Fixed that on some devices two characters were sometimes written for language-specific characters (not English!) (Thanks to Frank and Bernd!)
- The system language is now always used in the designer for language-dependent functions

Grab a drink and take some time - there are many new features and changes in this update!

With the extended design package (EDP), multiple functions can now be assigned to one action and be controlled with conditions. This means that several languages are now possible in one design.

The new copy function in EDP can be used for functions, function lists and colors. Hold button long to transfer a function or color to multiple keys. This feature will be extended to other controls in future updates.

In the basic package, spaces can finally be added when adopting word suggestions - if you wish, you can select the function and setting for this in the word bar!

New:
- EDP: Assignment of multiple functions to one action/keystroke (requested by many!)
- EDP: Hide buttons when no condition matching
- EDP: Copy single functions, function lists and colors (also export to clipboard, hold for lock, back button to release lock)
- EDP: Assistant for inserting language-specific characters in the toolbar of the key tab
- EDP: The height of the keyboard can now be adjusted not only to the screen height but also to the screen width (important for export and import with images)
- EDP: Images now also possible for word lamp
- EDP: New function types "Change language" and "Change level"
- EKP: New cursor option "Move around" for function type "Move cursor" (Thanks to Luke!)
- EKP: New cursor options "Save position" and "Restore position" for function type "Move cursor" (useful in combination with multiple functions per action)
- New setting and new word bar function: Add spaces after replacement (please activate setting and select function if desired!)
- Display design templates when creating a new design, including a simple QWERTY layout (Thanks to Ian!)
- More languages to choose from
- Show usage on design tab for text, numbers or phone
- Added language specific special characters for more languages (Czech, Hungarian, Finnish, Croatian, Maltese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Roman, Slovenian, Turkish)
- Added language 'Korean' in list (Greetings to Rodolfo!)
- Different colors for marked keys and popup keys now possible

Revisions:
- Fixed an issue that words were sometimes not auto-replaced (Thanks to Hazel!)
- Added a button to check after a device change whether an extension package has already been purchased (Thanks to Sonny!)
- Fixed a problem, that the keyboard was sometimes not completely shown when used (Thanks to Nik!)
- Plus and minus icons can now be changed by holding
- User interface adjustments
- Icon size unification
- Added hint for upper case mode
- Fixed word bar hold action issue
- EDP: Popup backgrounds are now rounded when the keys are also rounded
- EDP: Popups can now also use images as background
- EDP: Keyboard background image does has now correct size in word bar and edit bar previews
- EDP: TTF font files can now be shared directly to the Keyboard Designer without having to save to a ZIP archive
- EKP: Fixed clipboard history display issue
- EKP: Function type 'Launch app' now shows all existing apps (Thanks to Rob!)
- EKP: New word substitution icon for word tab and word bar
- Necessary changes done for Android 12

- New:
- Added design for square smartwatches
- Revisions:
- Fixed issues with displaying smartwatch designs

Revisions:
- New setting on the "General" tab: Do not reset design and mode on new field

Revisions:
- New designs now have 100% default safe typing zone (easier for new users)
- Moving keys and functions is much faster now

Revisions:
- Fixed that reference to another design was sometimes lost when exporting (Thanks to Abdallah and Maren)
- Fixed several minor bugs (Thanks everyone for reporting!)

New:
- Undo / redo function on the design and key tab (requested by soooo many…)
- EDP: Shifting of all symbols at once in the design
- EKP: New function type 'Font formatting' for bold, italic, underlined and strikethrough

Revisions:
- New keys are now inserted in the line with the fewest keys
- EDP: Font size of the sub-functions is now also displayed correctly (Thanks to Jonathan!)
- EDP: Problem with export with 5-digit Unicodes fixed
- EKP: Function type 'Send image' now with confirmation
- Code cleanups
- Performance improvements

New:
- Character sets for Dutch, French, Polish and Italian added

Revisions:
- New keys are now inserted in the line with the fewest keys
- Fixed minor bugs (thanks to Hartmut!)
- Preview of the popup now visible again across the whole width (Thanks to Raku!)
- Popups that are higher than the keyboard are now completely displayed again (Thanks to Joshua!)
- A hint is shown that moving buttons will affect all modes (Thanks to Michael!)

Revisions:
- Fixed that sometimes exported word lists could not be imported again (Thanks to Roland!)
- Popup of the first line can now also be above the word bar (Thanks to Roland!)
- Word bar functions are now always saved (Thanks to Roland!)
- Fixed a problem that the version number was still displayed when changing the function type (Thanks to Anne!)
- EDP: Vibration or sound added to word bar (if activated, thanks to Franklin!)
- Backgrounds of invisible popup buttons are no longer drawn
- New keys are now inserted in the line with the fewest keys
- Added shadow above navigation bar
- Minor corrections

With this new version 5, the main focus was on the word suggestions and the simplified look, but many details have also been improved. Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the past few months in completing this new version!

New:
- Word suggestions are now available in a word bar
- New look for all fields
- Navigation moved to bottom so that it is always at the same position (even if there is no keyboard preview) and more space for keyboard entries
- Reworked display of function types, now with descriptions
- Mode tab integrated in the key tab, making the user interface easier to understand
- No more differentiation between necessary and all settings
- Merging of the same setting types into containers for greater clarity
- Export and import dialog completely revised, significantly simplified (e.g. ZIP file is now standard format, current keyboard is preselected, optional information is saved, word lists are included)
- ZIP files can now be opened directly and has no longer to be shared with the app
- Search in the assistant added
- Additional topics added to the assistant
- Hints can now be displayed in the change log (see above)
- EDP: Colors (except for the keyboard background) can now be transparent (requested by a large number of users)
- EDP: Positions of popups can now be specified (above / on / below the key)
- EKP: New function types: Send image and hide keyboard (thanks to Ashley!)

Revisions:
- EDP/EKP: Image list now sorted by name and with preview
- EDP: The edit bar can display the background image from the keyboard if "color like design" is selected
- EDP: Color of the navigation bar in case of background image now also visible in preview
- EDP: The list of fonts is now sorted
- EKP: More apps are now displayed for "start app“ function type and they are sorted (thanks to Csabi!)
- EKP: The special functions Ctrl, Alt + Shift can now also be used in all terminal apps (thanks to Sam!)
- Automatic function type change can be switched off, the OK button is no longer overlaid
- Fixed that the wrong history was written sometimes
- The cursor can now also be moved to the right and left in some terminal apps (thanks to Sam!)
- Popups in the designer are no longer closed when the app is set to background
- Fixed that the designer sometimes not showing up after launch
- Fixed that Smartwatch could sometimes not be tested on test tab
- Fixed that keyboard jumps when popup protrudes over keyboard (thanks to Dixon!)
- Keyboard Designer is now opened when the user calls the keyboard settings in the system settings (thanks to Andreas!)
- Minus symbol placed in front of color controls in order to be consistent with other controls
- Added Hungarian as a language option
- Linguistic adjustments
- Miner corrections

- New:
- Assistant is now displayed after new installation when the keyboard is used the first time, to explain key selection
- Revisions:
- Fixed, that the focus was lost sometimes after the first character was written
- Fixed, that some messengers scrolled up at the start (thanks to Toth!)
- Fixed, that characters were not written if the first key was swiped lightly and the second key was touched at the same time
- Fixed, that the keyboard was sometimes hidden again at startup
- Reduction of the font size of the assistant from 24 to 20 dp
- Adjustments to Spanish terms
- Added more assistant topics
- Minor corrections

New:
- Button on info tab for first version of the assistant
- Emojis character group added

Revised:
- Fixed problem when editing multiple keys at the same time (Thanks to Fadi!)
- The soft navigation bar uses the background color of the keyboard now (requested by many!)
- Corrected the width of the function selection (was always wide after popup)
- Key repetitions could hang up in connection with popup (Thanks to Aaron!)
- Fixed that repetition duration was sometimes not displayed and not always executed correctly (Thanks to Dixon)
Fixed that after changes on the settings tab the keyboard was sometimes completely recalculated with each touch, this reduced the speed extremely ~
Minor adjustments (Thanks to all for the feedback!)

- Revisions:
- Fixed a problem that occurred when the function type to show/hide the edit bar was assigned to a popup (thanks to Roland!)
- Keyboard image can now be shared again (Thanks to Mike!)

- Revisions:
- EDP: Fixed a problem with saving the color after removing an image (Thanks to Mike!)
- EDP: Fixed a problem with special characters in ZIP file names
- Fixed problem with display of change notification
- Minor adjustments

New:
- Show notification after update
- New features for Extended Design Package (EDP, in-app purchase)
- EDP: Images can now be used for the background of keyboards and keys
- EDP: Import of fonts (settings tab)
- EDP: Export and import does now support ZIP files (contains keyboard data, images, fonts)
- Extended Keyboard Package (EKP, in-app purchase) now available offering additional function types
- EKP: Special functions: Tab, F1, F2, Button A, ...
- EKP: Change keyboard (to other installed keyboard)
- EKP: Voice input (if Google voice input is installed)
- EKP Show history (input and clipboard)
- EKP: Support UTF-8 (e.g. for SSH)
- EKP: Start apps (e.g. for translators, notes, ...)
- EKP: Empty key

Revisions:
- Reworked selection lists
- Problem solved, that app might crash after switching back to it (Thanks to Austin for reporting!)
- The edges of marked keys are now displayed correctly
- The borders of popups are now always drawn
- EDP: Fixed a problem that could occur when moving design and mode after deleting another one before (Thanks to Vincent + Mike!)
- Minor bug fixes (Thanks to Austin, Mike + Robin!)

New:
- EDP: You can now change the sorting of designs and modes
- EDP: Color codes can be entered directly
- EDP: Use of a font installed on the device for your keyboard (Settings tab)

Revisions:
- Adjustment of the unicode search to find symbols in a better way
- Fixed problem with incorrect output of some characters (e.g. small i without dot u0130) (Thanks to D.Y.!)
- Symbols of the symbol search are now displayed in the middle, as some have been cut off (thanks for the hint!)
- Fixed: the character groups were sometimes not displayed when the designer was launched from the keyboard (thanks for the hints!)
- Fixed that sometimes the reference to another mode was not taken over when exporting / importing or copying (thanks to Roland!)
- Preparations for word lists and other features of version 4

- Revisions:
- Sometimes the text on the OK key was not displayed (thanks to Leander!)

- Revisions:
- The function names were not completely displayed on some devices
- Now all types of spaces (e.g. blank space) are displayed in the formula bar (thanks for the tip!)

New:
- EDP: Vibration or sound when a key is pressed
- EDP: Mark multiple keys
- EDP: Copy designs and keys
- EDP: Setting the font size of sub-functions
- Help texts for all settings can now be activated on the design tab
- The currently used design can now also be set on the test tab

Revisions:
- Fixed an issue where swiping up was not triggered at certain keyboard heights
- Rework of the default keyboard
- Fixed problem that checkboxes on Settings tab were not set after changing the app
- Optimization of memory management when app is started multiple times
- Fixed problem that the push function was sometimes not executed (Thanks to Csabi!)
- The "magnifier" is now called "edit bar"
- Optical adjustments in the surface
- Minor corrections

- Revisions:
- Fixed problem that sometimes only the splash screen was displayed when importing via clipboard
- Fixed problem that occurred when exporting contains 5-digit unicodes
- Fixed problem that the actions of the magnifyer could not be changed

Today I am particularly pleased that after a lot of work in the alpha and beta phase I can finally finish version 3.0.0! It was developed and tested for about 1 year. As always, I look forward to your feedback!

- New:
- Support Android Q
- Splashscreen when starting the app
- New versioning consisting of major, minor and revision number
- Show the version number on the designer key
- Show changes of the last three versions in the designer
- Setting to close key selection without having to press the X symbol (thanks to Leander)
- The Extended Design Package (EDP) is now available, which provides additional functions for a one time fee
- EDP: Export and import of keyboard data
- EDP: Round buttons
- EDP: Color gradients for keys and backgrounds
- EDP: Unlimited number of output characters, keys per row and rows
- EDP: Display instruction how to import keyboards (thanks to Max)

- Revisions:
- Optical improvements of the designer
- Minimum height reduced from 10 to 5 % to support single-line layouts in a better way
- If a symbol but no function is selected, function 'Add output to editor' is set automatically (thanks to Austin for the idea!)
- Fixed problem with deleting popup keys (thanks to Max!)
- Action right and left at the edges now possible (thanks to Leander!)
- Set function type to "None" automatically when symbol is deleted (thanks to Leander)
- Rework of the drawing of keys, they will now be centered correctly
- Many minor fixes

Bug fixes:
- Fixed a problem that could occur when moving functions in popups
- The keyboard is now always completely displayed after switching to landscape mode

Many thanks to Austin for reporting these two bugs!

Bug fixes:
   - Fixed an issue that could occur when moving functions in the designer

Bug fixes:
 - Entering characters in a crossword puzzle of a newspaper app is now possible (including deletion)
 - After exiting the designer, a subsequent crash could occur

Bug fixes:
   - An error could occur when updating all colors using the simplified settings (thanks for notifying support!)
   - The keyboard was not fully opened during a certain game (thanks for the feedback!)

Bug fixes:
   - Fixed issues that occur when using an app that does not use standard functions (reported through support)
   - Minor bug fixes

Bug fixes:
- Key is no longer marked if held during a mode change
- Sometimes the entire keyboard was not visible after the screen was rotated
- Popup key could not be deleted in the designer
- Sometimes the smartwatch did not stretch the keyboard over the entire surface

Welcome to all users in Spain! From today, the app is also officially available in Spanish!

-Phone / Tablet / Smartwatch:
- User interface now available in Spanish (Gracias Pablo !!!)
- It is now sufficient to move the finger horizontally under the popup to select a different key instead of touching it directly, if the popup has multiple keys (thanks to the unknown user providing this tip!)
- Preparations for version 3.0

-Phone / Tablet:
- User interface now available in Spanish (Gracias Pablo !!!)
- Smartwatch:
- User Interface now available in Spanish (Gracias Pablo !!!)

- Phone / Tablet:
- User interface now also in Switzerland and Austria in German
- Fixed issue when adding or deleting UTF16 Unicodes as an icon
- Change of the design name is now taken over directly
- Smartwatch:
- User interface now also in Switzerland and Austria in German

The following fixes are included in this release:
- Provision of Italian and French special characters with appropriate language setting
- Icons in toolbar now abbreviated to clarify what is added or deleted
- On the first click on "Add" of the design tab, the user is asked if he really wants to create a new design (after the first installation this could be unclear)
- Improved speed when starting the designer
- Minor optical corrections

The following fixes are included in this release:
- Fixed a bug where a mode could be removed when deleting a pop-up key
- Problem with automatic mode change fixed (reported by user)

- Bugfixing:
- Fixed a problem that occures while deleting the left or right word of a password (reported by user)
- Automatic change to the last mode after pressing a key now possible, when mode is assigned to a different design (reported by user)

- Phone / Tablet:
- Following bugs have been corrected:
- Problem when closing the symbol selection (reported by user)
- Fixed issue with advanced color setting
- English texts corrected
- Smartwatch was not displayed correctly during the test
- Smartwatch:
- Speed of synchronization increased significantly
- It does not flash white anymore during app start

+ Provision of Spanish characters and demo keyboard with appropriate system language
+ Preparations for version 3.0
+ Minor corrections:
- At startup, no white screen flashes anymore
- Icons for locking / unlocking the function exchange were displayed exactly the wrong way around
- Significant acceleration of moving keys and exchange of functions
- When moving functions, sometimes the symbol was not displayed
- Revision of texts

+ Revision of the search for Unicode characters
+ Fixed the reported errors, among others
- Problem assigning a symbol to a pop-up key
- Problems with text input
- Automatic preselection of a key during popup for faster entry
- Fixed a crash that could occur when moving selected text

After user feedback, the response of the operating system on input has been modified. This prevents problems on some devices and increases the responsiveness of the keyboard.

Today there is already an update! Some users have reported problems with the design change on the key tab. After some research, I found out that the error occurs if the design tab was not previously selected. The solution is provided in version 2.16.

Code cleanups performed to achieve stabilization and a little more speed.

Bugfixing:
- Fixed issue: swipe up (capital letters) could not be used for top letter row when number row and maginier are hidden
- Key mark is canceled when swipe up on key without function

Stability increased due to various messages, including:
- Fixed issue: designer crashes when called by the keyboard
- Fixed issue: swipe up (capital letters) could not be used for top letter row when number row is hidden

Many thanks to all who contacted the support to report these errors !!!

Improvements:
- Headings are now shown in bold font (better readability)
- Button added to call feedback questions of homepage

Bugfixing in general:
- Magnifier will now react when switching from small to uppercase letter with magnifer (searched for reason a long time!)
- Fixed issue that designer was not displayed when invoked from the testing tab using the keyboard

Fixed bugs reported in version 2.10:
- Keyboard preview does not disappear in the "Test" and "Settings" tabs

The new version 2.10 has just been released! The target goal is to improve the clarity. The following topics were implemented:

+ New features smartphone / tablet:
- On request, only necessary settings can be displayed (default for new installations)
- Display mode can be selected in the wizard
- Function added to change the colors, magnifier and key selection of all designs at once
- Info tab added to summarize important data

New version 2.04 released:

+ New features smartphone / tablet:
- Additional description for all buttons
- Errors can now also be reported by Google framework
- Improved error handling
- Fixed the problem that a text, which was copied from a website, could not be pasted
- Problem solved, that errors can occur when the mode is changed very fast (reported by user)

New version 2.02 released:



+ New features Wear:
- Button added to show the Play Stores entry of the Keyboard Designer on the smartphone (if not installed on the smartphone)
- Preparations for faster synchronization in future version
+ New features smartphone / tablet:
- Image of the keyboard can now be shared by the designer to other apps
- Keyboard can now be selected directly in the wizard
- Preparation for faster synchronization in future version
- Preparations for "Extended Design Package" in future version
- Minor errors fixed

It is time! Not only smartphones and tablets can use custom keyboards designed with the Keyboard Designer - from today on they can even be used by smartwatches!

Especially on small screens, it is very difficult to enter texz. Due to this it is important that the keys are arranged as you need them! The keyboard can be created on the smartphone and then be transferred to the smartwatch!

Tip: You can write on the test tab of the smartphone and transfer the text directly to the smartwatch, if its keyboard was activated in a text field!

In addition, there is now a list of standard colors in the color selection.

Now that Version 2.0 has been provided the app will also be available in the USA and Canada.

Thanks to the feedback of the first users the followings topics could be realized:
- Magnifier colors are now releated to design colors (to simplify settings)
- Magnifier should now scroll correctly
- Summary of function on key fragment is now shown if function selector is closed

After all the feedback of the alpha and beta testers, the version 1.0 can be released today - as scheduled! The release will be installed automatically on the devices of all testers.

A big THANK YOU to all testers of the last month, once again!

Today the Keyboard Designer is for the first time installable for all interested. The alpha base, limited to a small circle of testers, was abandoned and the app was published in the version 0.80 as a public beta version in the Play Store. Although it can not be found using the app search, every Android user can download it via the link.

While waiting for feedback, building the website is now being started.