IPhone UI study : keyboard text input and gestures mock up - download here

by Tom 4. July 2007 05:56

Updated !!!
Somebody in stated in a comment he got an exception. I finally found the cause of it, and updated the application. Download the new version below, and be sure to refresh your browser cache

While looking at a few you tube videos about the iPhone, especially regarding the keyboard/text input, I was thinking : hey, why wouldn't I try to replicate the iPhone UI behavior ? I don't think it  should be that hard ...

Being able to use your fingers on a PDA instead of a stylus would improve the usability of handhelds a lot.

So yesterday I started developing, and after a few hours I had basic gesture recognition, and I got a few ideas on how to do the keyboard mapping.

Finally this is the result :

The demo mainly consists of two parts :

The gestures :

  • Draw a gesture in the designated area.
  • Define a name in the text box and press the 'Add...' button to add a gesture to the list
  • Every time you draw a gesture the closest match to the registered gestions will be visible under 'Last recognized gesture'

The text input :

  • Click on the buttons to form a word as quick as you can. For most larger words you do not need a lot of precision while typing.
  • When the selected word in the list box is OK press <Space> or <Enter>
  • In the example above I wanted to type the word "STARTED", but i missed a few buttons. Still, the algorithm can figure out that while I typed "QTATTEX" I actually meant started.
  • Click once on the list box with suggestions to select the next item in the list.
  • If you want to select the literal text (bottom left), just click on it. The literal will be added to your text.
  • Press <CLR> to re-enter a word.

You can download the demo here :

IphoneMockup1.zip (399,67 KB) 

New version on 2007/7/5 !! 
- fixed the Unhandled exception when a gesture exists of a single point click.

This demo runs on windows/.NET 2.0, and the supported language is English only atm.
If I manage to find a pocketpc I will try to port it to the compact framework.

Please let me know what you think of this application by posting a comment.

Bookmark and Share

Tags: , ,

Development

Comments

7/4/2007 7:23:21 AM #

Programm3r

Very nice ... Love it !! A shame about all the unhandled exceptions Smile

Regards,

Programm3r

Programm3r |

7/4/2007 7:25:46 AM #

Tom

What kind of exceptions ? Could you be more specific ?

Tom |

7/5/2007 12:33:23 AM #

Tom

I found the cause of the exception (gesture that is a single point) and updated the application

Tom |

4/17/2009 4:43:31 AM #

comforter down

Thanks for the info !!!
I started developing, and after a few hours I had basic gesture recognition, and I got a few ideas on how to do the keyboard mapping.

comforter down United States |

Comments are closed

About me

Tom Janssens op LinkedIn

Tom Janssens op twitter

Core bvba RSS

My name is Tom Janssens and I am the owner of Core bvba, a software and consultancy company.
I am married to Liesbeth and have 2 sons named Quinten and Matisse.
ICT is both my job and passion.
Next to this my other hobby is actively playing music (mostly guitar).

More info about me and my company...

Recent Comments