keymanapp / keymanapp/keyman

meta(android): MS review of Android UX issues

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android/ android/app/
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Description

Follows #7161
@MakaraSok compiled a list of UX issues on Keyman for Android (during B17S3)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R2wloTnm7Yjh53v58vMCEfvHS679snKYsY5nGWu5KcQ/edit#heading=h.kjwind3vnqhn

I'll gradually convert these into linked issues

- [ ] Key size is smaller than Gboard/Samsung keys
- [ ] hint for longpress and release to type
- [ ] dark mode and light mode for the OSK
- [ ] settings right above the OSK
- [ ] next word prediction for Khmer
- [ ] function keys should be in a set location on the keyboard, so that it’s easier for users to switch from one keyboard to another, right now the keyboard designer took the liberty of placing them wherever they want.
pick a set location of each of them and make it immoveable just like those in the desktop OSK version.
keyboard help should easily be accessible from where they use the keyboard, i.e. keyboard switcher when the globe key is triggered.
- [ ] switching between keyboards is not seamless comparing with the default keyboard the device comes with, i.e. Samsung’s.
the keyboard should be just switched, no flickering. try and switch between keyboards using Keyman and then Samsung’s or Gboard’s
- [ ] Emoji, is a major turn off when it cannot be seamlessly accessed without switching to other keyboards. Users have been asking for it for a while, but the voice hasn’t been “heard”. #6176
- [ ] theme personalization, keyboard background image/color
- [ ] floating OSK, why it’s always waaay down at the bottom and not where I want. Phone form factors are getting bigger and longer/taller, please.
- [ ] delete a word with a trailing ZWSP, it’s annoying to delete a word by pressing the back space two times to get to the character to delete. pick a word from the suggestion banner and then try to delete the last character, only get to the ZWSP instead of the last character/word.

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More from other testers....

- [ ] not UI friendly: buttons like 'uninstall button' should be in a red box to indicate its importance and danger of this button. (I once thought that I had to scan the QR code to delete the keyboard because the QR code is right under the 'Uninstall keyboard' text. )
- [ ] 'Clear Text' button is frequently used and it should be put outside of the 'Three dots button' to easily access it.
- [ ] 'Installed languages' and 'Install Keyboard or Dictionary' buttons are similar so I always get confused between these two when I first use Keyman. Is there a way to distinguish these two buttons?
- [ ] keyboard search: there are a lot of results when I search for a keyboard for a certain language, for example Hebrew. As a beginner, I don't know which keyboard to install. So I have to randomly select one and I prefer to install the most famous keyboards which I can evaluate through the monthly downloads number of each keyboard. Can we somehow make the most downloaded keyboards appear on the top?

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- [ ] Missing the navigation feature for missed keyboard(s) during installation: The main pain point starts from installing a keyboard from [keyman.com](http://keyman.com/); there is no way to return to a keyboard that was not selected for download, so the user would have to go through the same and long process just for one of the keyboards they missed.
- [ ] Consistency: Connecting to this, the app could work better with return features.
For example, Adjust keyboard height does not have a back button, but most of the other pages do. We are aware that there is a return function on Android devices, but when using that to return, it often goes a few steps back than we desire (as when I forgot a keyboard during the downloading session, so I had to do the entire process again).

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- [ ] Installing multiple versions of Keyman on the same Android device is possible but can confuse users.
- [ ] On Android devices, I observed that the Lexical Model data file is sometimes downloaded anonymously from the internet and stored in the Download folder. This can be confusing for users and may cause panic. It would be better to avoid this feature to prevent user confusion.
- [ ] Adding a predictive text feature for Indian languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi would enhance Keyman's usability. We should explore ways to encourage Indian users to create dictionaries for these languages, making Keyman more user-friendly.

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