In my search for good keyboard that support AMOLED mode, I found out about FlorisBoard which looks perfect to me. It even supports Halmak Keyboard Layout, which I didn’t expect to find at any Android Keyboard.
Which make me ask, How is this keyboard not popular?
I’ve used it for years and like it a lot. Development seems kinda slow, though, and there aren’t that many themes. Those might be downsides to some people. I think it pretty popular, though. A decent number of people seem to use it.
I tried it, but ended on heliboard which has glide typing, Floris didn’t at the time
In addition to glide typing, Heliboard also has some of the best layout customization options out there, such as the option of disabling context-dependent menus. I HAAAAAATE how other keyboards change the keys available on the period key menu on URL bars. I use colons and forward slashes way more often than “.com”, which I use… well, never.
+1 to heliboard, I use dvorak layout
I’ve tried a lot of alternate keyboards, but I hadn’t heard of Heliboard. I just gave it a try and I really like it! Thanks for posting about it.
Wait, it can do that???
Yes, it’s the “Show TLD popup keys” setting under “Preferences”.
Oh, thank.
I use futo keynoard ans I dind it to be a better experiemve
FUTO Keyboard is my favourite.
I think FUTO is very shady company from my reading about it.
I am not saying they are evil, but they are very sus.
I’m interested if you have to reliable links to share!
There were some on here yesterday
I tried it out recently but the gesture typing seemed way worse than heliboard
It does not use proprietary typing data. So, it can be slightly worse.
But, you can always contribute some data here: https://swipe.futo.org/
Oh that’s cool
Do you know how to get voice recognition on heliboard?
Not something I have any interest in using, so afraid I’ve never tried it
That’s fair. I know nothing of gesture typing tbh. All I care about is that my apps aren’t spying on me.
They both seem to cover that fortunately
There’s a very simple explanation to every “how is (niche technological thing) not more popular?” questions, and that is simply… Most people are perfectly happy with the defaults.
Don’t take this Fediverse instance and the people who interact with it as an example. Even Reddit’s tech subs are very niche serving, most of the responders will be people who live and die with tech… which does NOT represent the great majority of people.
Said great majority is perfectly happy with their phones as is. The default keyboard is 99% of the time perfectly usable. So people don’t even feel a need to change. Therefore niche keyboards will have very little popularity. Even big ones like SwiftKey.
Got a shit tonne of experience with open source keyboards. Literally the only kind of app I can say I have good enough experience to have an opinion on and heliboard has hands down been the best.
Serious question: what problems does the default keyboard have that Florisboard is trying to solve? I’ve never looked at the Android keyboard and thought “I wish this worked differently,” except maybe when I switch languages by accident.
Privacy. I don’t need Google recording my keystrokes.
It depends on the phone’s brand. Samsung’s keyboard is way different from Motorola, for example. The other reasons would be the possibility of customization, and for privacy-minded people, as the keyboard is basically a very sensitive entry point
How is this keyboard not popular?
their front page explicitly says “Currently in beta state” and according to their docs installation via Google Play requires joining a beta tester group.
that means a random user searching “keyboard” on the Play store isn’t going to see it. likewise if a friend told you “I use Florisboard” and you searched for it by name in the Play store. if you’re not already in the beta test group the direct link to the app page literally 404s.
it’s certainly available to power users who already know they want it, but it’s sort of pointless to ask why it’s not popular at this stage of its development.
WEEEEELLLL that’s what Fdroid is for and my friends with android all already have fdroid because “youtube downloaders be there” is all I had to say.
They just like the google key
loggerboard.FYI, direct link fails for me
I’ve become dependent on SwiftKey. Unfortunately, it’s invasive. I block network access on the app. It works great without it. It adjusts sensitivity and accuracy based on your typing habits, fixing mistakes over time that I make incessantly on other keyboards.
You can use gesture typing on HeliBoard if you upload the gesture typing library (you can get it from the repo).
I do not like gesture typing. I never have.
Why are you using SwiftKey then?
I literally explained it.
Heliboard has halmak too
Try my oled theme.
It was on the florisboard theme page but the dev took it down because I made it in florisbord not in a repo
Word suggestions/spell checking are not included in the current releases and are a major goal for the v0.6 milestone.
I’ve been watching Florisboard since before that text read “v0.5”. It’s a good keyboard but can’t be a daily driver for me without that.
How did not anyone mention lack of autocorrect? Am I out of the loop how to enable that?
I just got attached to Typewise (despite not being Open Source sadly). It is one of few apps, where I bought an expensive lifetime option.
What is this layout?
Once you get used to it, it is pretty ideal for typing with both thumbs. The core principle is that the buttons are bigger and less used buttons are placed further outward from the center and at the bottom.
(In this example I’ve highlighed all letters from the bottom 2 rows which are slower to type due to thumb movement. Keep in mind that I am using a german layout for english text, the other layouts place some letters differently.)
It is also great because it causes visible confusion to people seeing my screen or even worse wanting to type something on it.
But most importantly: it works for me. Back when I switched to Typewise open source keyboards did not have swiping (or it wasnt great). And the default keyboard layout is not great for typing with my fat thumbs. Typewise worked so well for me that I do not miss swiping at all. Of course it is a matter of preference.
I really like the ethos of Florisboard, but their spell check is just not in a state that makes it usable for me.
![[Android] How is Florisboard not popular?](https://i.ibb.co/rfMhdd39/an8rulur-3-8.jpg){kind=link}