Good Morning from my Robotics Lab! This is Shadow_8472, and today I\u2019m finalizing my decision on an Android Keyboard. Let\u2019s get started!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AnySoftKeyboard (ASK) is not the perfect keyboard for me. As I stated last week, the default (Googled) keyboard that came with my tablet is my control test for user experience. The only visible features I find it lacking are up\/down keys and a dark mode. ASK offers both of these, but offers additional features I need to grow into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike other keyboards I tried, ASK is especially flexible if you don\u2019t move on before you\u2019ve explored the depths of its settings app. Buried within its confines are a number of prebuilt top and bottom key rows \u2013 around a dozen each. The most unintuitive feature for me was a list of swipe gestures I could safely ignore if it wasn\u2019t key for switching keyboards on-the-fly. I even found a \u201cdeveloper mode\u201d with 41 different types of text fields to test how the keyboard behaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My biggest standing complaint with ASK is the confusion over exactly what is a \u201clanguage.\u201d Installable ASK languages appear to be plugins for key mapping\/dictionary pairs, while Android\u2019s installed languages menu brings up a set of all installed on-screen keyboard programs. ASK\u2019s definition is the better descriptor, but a multilingual end-user who only cares that things work will accept Google\u2019s definition before something more descriptive like \u201ckeyboards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Special thanks to muneyotxi for showing patience while educating me about ASK\u2019s less obvious features \u2013 namely long-pressing the Return key for a faster access to keyboard app switching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AnySoftKeyboard is an almost trivial tweak to Android I would recommend for anyone thinking about digital privacy. What other raw beginner level tips do you have to share?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I look forward hearing your answers on in the comments below or on my Discord server<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Good Morning from my Robotics Lab! This is Shadow_8472, and today I\u2019m finalizing my decision on an Android Keyboard. Let\u2019s get started! AnySoftKeyboard (ASK) is not the perfect keyboard for me. As I stated last week, the default (Googled) keyboard that came with my tablet is my control test for user experience. The only visible … <\/p>\n