spiegel-keyman/developer/docs/help/guides/develop/touch-keyboard-tutorial/gestures.md

title
Using Gestures in Keyman Developer

Keyman Developer offers Longpress keys, Flicks, and Multitaps for touch keyboard layout. To allow gestures onto your keyboard, go to the Touch layout tab and define the keys as follows:

Tips

*Flicks and long presses can both be used in a single keyboard. In this scenario, it is recommended to use flicks in only one direction—south (down). Long presses work well alongside this pattern. See, for example, sil_euro_latin. * Another helpful tip seen in the sil_euro_latin keyboard is using south-flicks on the base and shift layers corresponding to the numeric/symbol layer, this aids in both memorization and discovery.

• Flicks in multiple directions are possible, but currently Keyman does not support hints for multiple directions, so they are not very discoverable.
• Long presses are more discoverable, but flicks are faster. We suggest using south flicks along with long presses, and including the flick output in the long press for maximum discoverability and optimum ergonomics.

Caution

• Flicks near screen edges tend to be problematic--once you drag off the screen, then Keyman can no longer tell that you are flicking (or you may end up activating system controls on the bottom edge):
  • On the bottom row, south flicks are not recommended.
  • On the top row, we have the banner space reserved in order to be able to support flicks and long presses up into that region of the screen.
  • Left/right screen edges, horizontal flicks are not the best practice.

See also

• The Winchus keyboard
• The GFF Amharic keyboard