Anybody managing keyboard events on a browser?

[Colin Clark]

Hey Jorge,

On 24-Jun-09, at 10:02 AM, Jorge Silva wrote:
>  I've been looking into on-screen keyboards (OSK) for alternative  
> text entry in mobile devices and Jess suggested a while ago that  
> this could be done through the browser. At that time I raised an  
> eyebrow in disbelief, but after learning that Palm's new interface  
> is 100% javascript and that Google are well on their way with their  
> keyboard APIs (http://googleajaxsearchapi.blogspot.com/2009/06/introducing-virtual-keyboard-api.html 
> ), I think I should reconsider. In the long run though, I do need to  
> expose events to the host OS to make them available to all  
> applications. If anybody is already looking into this, I'd  
> appreciate some advice or maybe I can help out?


We've done a lot of work with keyboard interaction on the Web, though  
we haven't tried building an on-screen keyboard. I think it's quite a  
viable option, however. Web-based development on phones is really  
picking up; in addition to the Palm Pre, Nokia also offers their Web  
Runtime. Engage's approach to phone development will take advantage of  
hybrid web/native applications.

A Web-based onscreen keyboard is a promising idea. The hybrid style of  
web/native apps should allow you to also expose events to the host OS  
with a minimum amount of effort, too. As you're looking into this,  
keep me in the loop and let me know how I can help. Interesting stuff.

Colin

---
Colin Clark
Technical Lead, Fluid Project
Adaptive Technology Resource Centre, University of Toronto
http://fluidproject.org