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Helium314
More control when moving cursor with space bar
When I want to move the cursor far, I just tap into the text. For smaller corrections the space bar is more usefull. However it is to sensitive by default to effortlessly select an exact cursor position. And often I want to move the the cursor by just one unit.
One could add a setting to customise how much the cursor moves given the swiping distance.
Not sure if this should be a separate issue, but sometimes when I tap the spacebar, it moves the cursor instead. A "sensitivity" adjustment for spacebar swiping should fix both these problems.
@derpafist You mean this, right:?
In OneNote you even can't go back (swiping left) again, so that is even more disadvantageous.
And often I want to move the the cursor by just one unit.
(Emphasis is mine)
Solution: For solving that problem the following would be sufficient: Assuming there a certain swipe length steps, so 0 steps is no moving, step 1 to right/left is moving one right/left, step 2 to right/left is morving two right/left, step 3 ... moving 3 and so on. Change that to step 2 doing nothing and step 3 for moving 2 and step 4 for moving 3 and so on (i steps moving i-1 after first step moving one).
Why this is sufficient in my eyes : Moving one left or right is special and should be doable without problems, to get the correct selection. The whole stepsize themselves I wouldn't change too much, because it should be still possibile to cross wide areas with that type of space key swipe navigating ( I wouldn't change it at all).
Why the existing solution isn't sufficient: The left-right buttons aren't sufficient because they are of less use when using word correction showing (and would consume too much space when added on that bar).
@DoS007 Yes, appart from the not going back issue that's what I mean. However I also sometimes have that problem but I don't know how to reproduce it. Having some offset in the slide is certainly a good idea, because it is really hard to slide a tiny distance without it being recognised as a long press. However, I still think a sensitivity setting is sensible on top of that.
a setting for spacebar cursor sensitivity would be very useful. maybe with an option to smooth it (non-linear, slow start)
a setting for spacebar cursor sensitivity would be very useful. maybe with an option to smooth it (non-linear, slow start)
This is an interesting thought. Currently it works like a touchpad, only moving the cursor when actually moving your finger/thumb. I don't think it could be made nonlinear very well like that (it would be like acceleration with a mouse, but I question how well that would work on a touchscreen), but it could work very well if this feature was made to function like a Trackpoint. This would have to be an optional mode, as not everyone would like it, but it would allow for speeding up and slowing down the selection based on how far you drag from a central point, and in whichever direction. It would need a fairly large central deadzone with very slow movement slightly outside of that, then accelerating exponentially. It could be activated by long-pressing the spacebar or a toolbar button or a button elsewhere, e.g. along with options, emojis, etc under the comma, which would show a circle in the center that would be the virtual Trackpoint.
Currently it works like a touchpad, only moving the cursor when actually moving your finger/thumb. I don't think it could be made nonlinear very well like that (it would be like acceleration with a mouse, but I question how well that would work on a touchscreen)
I don't think this is completely true. It currently works like a *very old* touchpad, maybe. But at least on my current Win 11 laptop, moving your finger slowly makes the cursor move very slowly and precisely, while moving your finger quickly makes the cursor accelerate exponentially. (For example, if I drag my finger slowly across the touchpad, my cursor might move across perhaps 1/3 of the screen. If I swipe my finger quickly across the same distance of touchpad, the cursor will fly from one side of the screen to the other!)
Mu touchpad has exactly the behavior I would like in Heliboard, personally. If I swipe slowly over the Heliboard spacebar, it should move the cursor very slowly, so I can choose very precisely what character to arrive at (with a small deadzone at the very beginning of the swipe, which frankly might behave identically to the very beginning of an exponential curve anyway.)
but it could work very well if this feature was made to function like a Trackpoint. This would have to be an optional mode, as not everyone would like it, but it would allow for speeding up and slowing down the selection based on how far you drag from a central point, and in whichever direction.
Another thing I like about my laptop touchpad is that if I drag my finger all the way to the edge of it, the cursor continues traveling in that direction until I pull my finger back from the edge. If Heliboard did the same thing, it would basically the the same as your "trackpoint" suggestion, if I understood you correctly. (For example, swiping the Heliboard spacebar all the way to the right edge of the keyboard would make the cursor continues traveling to the right, even though your fingertip would no longer be moving on the physical screen, until you either release your touch or move your finger back to the left.)
Currently it works like a touchpad, only moving the cursor when actually moving your finger/thumb. I don't think it could be made nonlinear very well like that (it would be like acceleration with a mouse, but I question how well that would work on a touchscreen)
I don't think this is completely true. It currently works like a very old touchpad, maybe. But at least on my current Win 11 laptop, moving your finger slowly makes the cursor move very slowly and precisely, while moving your finger quickly makes the cursor accelerate exponentially. (For example, if I drag my finger slowly across the touchpad, my cursor might move across perhaps 1/3 of the screen. If I swipe my finger quickly across the same distance of touchpad, the cursor will fly from one side of the screen to the other!)
What you're describing is, as I said, touchpad behavior. Yes, it speeds up as you move your finger faster, but that's more akin to mouse acceleration, something entirely different. The point is, as you confirmed, the cursor moves when (and only when) your finger moves. What I'm talking about is how a Trackpoint works, where the cursor moves as long as your finger is off-center, regardless of if it itself is moving or not. And instead of adjusting cursor movement speed by how fast you move your finger, which has some downsides (difficult to do, especially accurately, on a small screen; more limited in precision and total speed; and requires constantly moving your finger), this allows you to simply adjust the speed based on how far you move your finger. If you're not familiar with Trackpoints, think of it like a joystick.
And I'm not saying Heliboard shouldn't implement what you're talking about, or that I wouldn't absolutely welcome it. I'm just saying that functionality like a Trackpoint would, IMO, work much better, especially for (small) touchscreens. Also, it already functions the way you describe, just maybe not with as much acceleration as you prefer; again, a limitation of this type of control.
Mu touchpad has exactly the behavior I would like in Heliboard, personally. If I swipe slowly over the Heliboard spacebar, it should move the cursor very slowly, so I can choose very precisely what character to arrive at (with a small deadzone at the very beginning of the swipe, which frankly might behave identically to the very beginning of an exponential curve anyway.)
but it could work very well if this feature was made to function like a Trackpoint. This would have to be an optional mode, as not everyone would like it, but it would allow for speeding up and slowing down the selection based on how far you drag from a central point, and in whichever direction.
Another thing I like about my laptop touchpad is that if I drag my finger all the way to the edge of it, the cursor continues traveling in that direction until I pull my finger back from the edge. If Heliboard did the same thing, it would basically the the same as your "trackpoint" suggestion, if I understood you correctly. (For example, swiping the Heliboard spacebar all the way to the right edge of the keyboard would make the cursor continues traveling to the right, even though your fingertip would no longer be moving on the physical screen, until you either release your touch or move your finger back to the left.)
Yes, this would be similar, but IMO, not quite as good. I don't want to have to go all the way to the edge for this effect, nor do I want an all or none (in order to keep it moving without continually moving my finger, I'd have to go all the way to the edge, at which point it moves at whatever speed it moves at, instead of being able to have continual cursor movement of any speed). Now I'll admit many people don't like Trackpoints, and just as I can't fathom that given how amazing I personally think they are, others can't fathom how people can use them. To each their own. But this wouldn't be a Trackpoint, it would just have similar functionality, and so I think people would be ok with it. After all, it would offer what you want, only (again, IMO) better, because you could have continuous movement without having to keep your finger in constant motion, you wouldn't run out of space to move it, and it would allow an essentially infinite range of speed that could be set to be linear or logarithmic.