8vim Keyboard

flide inc.

About this app

8vim is an open source, small screen keyboard designed to overcome the limitation of small typing space and provide tools to the user to have full text editor style editing capabilities on any text box he/she is typing.

Usability Guide

So, what capabilities does 8Vim have? Once you know how to type with this thing (Learn how to type with this original [8Pen-game App] (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eightpen.android.wordcup&hl=en), you must know the following
Basic Needed Stuff

Right Sector acts as a backspace Key.
Bottom Sector acts as a Enter Key.
Top Sector acts as a combination of SHIFT and CAPS_LOCK Key, i.e, Press once Shift is active, Press Twice CAPS is active and Press once more and everything is back to usual.
Left Sector acts as the button that takes you to the Number Pad.

Cursor Movements

If you move your finger from the centre-circle to any sector and stay, the cursor movement will be emulated. For example, if you swipe from circle->right, the cursor will move right. You get the picture.

Selection

There is selection built in to the keyboard. if you move your finger from the right sector to the circle, the cursor will start moving left and selecting everything in it's path. once you release, a selection keyboard will open up for various stupidities to do.

Paste Functionality

Moving your finger from right->circle->lift-your-finger performs a paste. whatever is in the clipboard.


The source code for the project can be found on github at : https://github.com/flide/8VIM

Ratings and reviews

I found this after MessageEase went rogue and decided to demand payment to continue using their keyboard. Unfortunately, 8vim it is quite buggy (emojis crash the keyboard and reset the default keboard to anything else; the settings app for it blanks a lot) and doesn't support Japanese. Also, 8vim got about as much to do with vim as JavaScript with Java. But, still. It's decent.

The idea is nice and it's surprisingly fast to get used to, though it has a bit of a learning curve. It has space for growth. Accented characters for languages that need them can be reached by gestures, swipe from the bottom area to the centre and back to bottom. No autocorrect, no emojis (hope they'll add them eventually) but basic theming available. Try it out!

Nothing prints no letters, no nothing. Even using the "test your keyboard here", when you open it. Tried quick memo and keep notes, when I tried to type hello. I got a pretty color trail after my finger but no text on the screen. Not even random letters after multiple frustration circles through all letters... Nothing. Maybe I'm doing something wrong... But It shouldn't be that difficult. 🤨 Uninstalling because... damn!

What's new

- fix: 🐛 IMEs listing not working on Android 14 by @MaethorNaur in #425
- fix: 🐛 Extra layers not displayed by @MaethorNaur in #427