Extended Glide Gestures

@muleluku a, b, c and e are done, build 430 (and 2.1.3 on the App Store). Glide from ABC on either symbols page gives you the letters until you lift, from #+= the second symbols page, from 123 on the second page back to the first one. Glide from shift puts in one capital letter and shift turns off after it. The layer only kicks in once your finger leaves the key, so a quick tap still just switches the page. Also, gliding from 123 now works with every "Long-press 123" option, not only Default.

Accents by holding during a glide (d) aren't in yet, I'm doing that next. f and g I'm leaving out for now, f would fight with the caps lock logic.

a b c e all work.

The exact behaviour of the keys and how they interact with touch can be improved.

I won't take native as the benchmark, it behaves a bit inconsistently. SwiftKey has the best implementation, I think, but also not exactly what I would consider optimal. While Gboard doesn't allow all those glide gestures to begin with.

So I think the keys should consistently:

Option A:

• switch layers upon touch down
• leave the layer activated when you end touch on the key, even when you have moved outside the key and returned, or when you hold the key for a longer duration
• switch back layers when touch ends outside of the key

Option B:

• switch layers upon touch down
• leave layer activated when touch ends without leaving the key
• return to previous layer when touch ends and you have moved out of the key (whether or not you then return to it)

Right now the behaviour is (in contrast to option A):

• for shift: does not deactivate when ending touch outside the key when no character was selected
• for 123 (from alphas): does not remain activated when long-pressed (with long-press actions off) or when you return to the key
• for #+= and 123 (from second symbols) and ABC: does not switch layer immediately but only when you lift the tap or move outside the key; does not remain at the layer when moved outside the key and then returned to the key

@muleluku went with your option B. Fixed for build 431 (2.1.3 on the App Store): ABC, #+= and 123 on the second page switch on touch down like 123 does, holding 123 now stays on symbols, and ending a glide anywhere off the key (even back on it) returns to the previous layer, shift included. ABC and 123 with long-press actions set still switch only once you leave the key, since holding them opens the actions.

All glidable keys work consistently now and much more intuitively. Points a b c e of the original post considered done.

Setting status of ticket to new, for open points d, f and g, for whenever you want to consider them again.

@muleluku d and f are done for build 432 (and 2.1.3 on the App Store). Stop on a key mid-glide and after the usual hold delay its long-press options open, so you can slide to one and lift. Gliding from shift while it's on or caps locked gives you one lowercase letter and turns shift or caps lock back on afterwards. g I'm leaving out, too many layers stacked inside one touch for how rarely it would get used.

All done and all good except #B246 that my fellow testers have already caught.

Reopening just to ask:

I agree, two layer support as suggested with g) is such an edge case. But maybe I can convince you to only include glide from alphas via 123 and #+= to the second symbols layer? I think this one would be actually useful.

@muleluku glide from 123, stop on #+= for the usual hold delay and the second symbols page comes up, then slide to the symbol and lift. Just passing over #+= on the way to . or ? does nothing, it sits right above 123. Fixed for build 438 (and 2.2 on the App Store), holding 123 on the second page takes you back to the first.