Typing around the world

Installing Keyman 8

In the last week, I've spent a fair bit of time tidying up the installer.  There were a number of issues I had to resolve, such as problems upgrading when the user's admin status had been removed in between the original install and the upgrade ... yep, we've had to deal with this.

I also removed a lot of legacy code supporting Windows 95, 98 and Me: the setup installer for Keyman Desktop 7 needed to support these operating systems, as we still supported them when we released version 7.0.  It was a nice feeling removing that code!

Much of the work over the last week was under the hood and won't be visible to you as an end user, but I have also made what I think is a significant improvement to the installation user experience.

The installation process for Keyman Desktop 7, while not overly complicated certainly could be daunting to a newbie user.  The big reason for this was the large number of dialogs that the user could be presented with during a typical installation.  Here's how Keyman Desktop 7 installed for a typical user:

And here's the equivalent in Keyman Desktop 8:

I do feel that's a big improvement.  All the Windows Installer dialogs have been hidden, and the install process now consists of checking a single checkbox to agree to the license, then clicking on the Install Keyman Desktop button. I've removed the 'power user' options from the decision sequence and placed them under the "Install Options" dialog:

Similarly, the End User License Agreement (do you read all the EULAs you are presented with?) is now printable and easier to read but less intrusive.  The agreement itself hasn't changed!

The user interface language choice has been moved to a consistent and common location both in the Welcome screen and the Keyman Configuration screen.  This has the advantage of being less easily confused with keyboard layout choice:

Behind the scenes, Keyman Desktop still uses a Windows Installer .msi package to install, so it can be deployed on networks just as simply as before.  However, for the typical end user, I'm hoping these modifications will make it much simpler to understand the installation process.

For the technically-minded, here are a handful of the more interesting changes among the 30-odd changes and fixes I've made in the last week:

• When keyboards are included in the installer, they install for all users, not just the installing user
• Welcome screen no longer appears underneath Explorer and other windows after the install completes
• Keyman will be started from the installer as a non-elevated process even though the installer is elevated
• Keyman 6 and Keyman 7 user-installed keyboards will be transferred correctly for the user who launches the installer, even if they have to elevate to another admin user account
• Keyman 8 automatically removes the Keyman 7 installation when it runs.  You cannot install both Keyman 7 and Keyman 8 on the same computer at the same time.

More new features in Keyman Desktop 8

In my last blog I talked about some of the more visible new features in version 8 of Keyman Desktop.  In this blog I'd like to quickly go through some of the important features that are just little bit less visible.

Full x64 support

Keyman Desktop 8 now includes full x64 support so that you can type into 64-bit applications such as new versions of Adobe products and Microsoft Office 2010 x64 Edition. The x64 support is transparently managed and requires no changes to your configuration in order to be accessible.

A new 64-bit host program is included in the Keyman Desktop install package and will be automatically installed if you install on an x64 edition of Windows Vista or Windows 7.  This program is called keymanx64.exe, and the back-end engine library is keyman64.dll.

Keyboard options

Keyman keyboard developers can now add options into their keyboard layouts.  The options can be configured from the Keyman Desktop Configuration interface. 

Some applications of keyboard options are:

• Selection of alternate keyboard mappings, such as entering vowel modifiers before or after the vowel characters.

• User control of whether to use CTRL or ALT etc. as a modifier key.

• In languages where text is usually entered without word breaks, a user may choose whether or not to insert visible or invisible breaks at syllable boundaries.

Many of the most popular Keyman Desktop keyboard layouts currently have a number of variants available, which can be confusing.  With keyboard options, these can be reduced to a single keyboard with an intuitive Options dialog box.

More information about Keyboard Options is available in the Keyboard Options documentation.

Unicode 6.0

Keyman Desktop 8.0 includes full support for Unicode 6.0 in its Character Map and related tools.

Mnemonic layout support for On Screen Keyboard

Mnemonic layouts will now work even better on European keyboards.  Keyman Desktop will detect the layout of your hardware keyboard and show the On Screen Keyboard in the same layout.

Integration with Tavultesoft Activation Client

For large deployments of Keyman Desktop, these can be centrally managed with the Tavultesoft Activation Server.  Version 8.0 of Keyman Desktop can be configured to interrogate the Activation Server automatically to activate itself.

Improved Compatibility

The Keyman Engine keystroke processor built into Keyman Desktop has been made even more compatible with major applications such as OpenOffice, Microsoft Office and popular web browsers.

Improved Tools

• The Font Helper is more accurate and provides extra detail for Pro users to help select the most appropriate fonts for your language.
• The Character Map tool includes better support for Planes 1-15 of The Unicode Standard, and improved filtering and searching for specific characters by name, as well as of course supporting Unicode 6.0.
• The Text Editor is available with a quick click from the Keyman menu to make it easy to type some text that can be pasted into applications that are not yet fully Unicode compatible.  The Text Editor shows helpful font hints for the selected Keyman Desktop keyboard.    

Keyman Developer

The most important new feature in Keyman Developer is that KeymanWeb keyboards can now be created without purchasing a separate KeymanWeb Pack.  This means that you can create a new keyboard layout for both Windows and the Web, with a single tool and single source file.

Keyman Developer includes a number of other minor improvements, such as better registry setting support for packages and installers, and polish of the Character Map.

Follow our progress

I'll be continuing to report on the status of Keyman Desktop 8 development using the #keyman8 tag on my account @mcdurdin.  Use the tag #keyman8 when you tweet about Keyman 8 and our development team will see your comments instantly -- well, assuming we are not asleep.

• Twitter: @mcdurdin (Keyman 8 development lead) and @tavultesoft (all Tavultesoft news)
• RSS: mcdurdin

Tell us about your experience

• Twitter: @mcdurdin (Use the #keyman8 tag)
• Email: beta@tavultesoft.com
• Web: http://www.tavultesoft.com/forums/category.php?ForumCategoryID=330

Download the beta

• Beta Download Home Page
  
• The Beta Download Home page lists currently known issues and bug fixes in the release.

Keyman Desktop 8.0 Beta Release

Today we released a new beta for Keyman Desktop 8.0.  This beta is very nearly feature complete -- we held off on just one area so we could get this beta out so you could start using it.  In this blog I'd like to go through a few of the new features that I find most exciting.

Download the beta at http://www.tavultesoft.com/beta/

Language Switch Window

Keyman Desktop 8 includes a stack of features to make it easier to switch languages in Windows.  Most of you would be familiar with the Alt+Left Shift key combination that rotates through Windows languages.  I've always found that key combination particularly clumsy, due to the limited and delayed visual feedback and the limitations of only being able to switch to the 'next' language.  The delayed visual feedback in the language bar means I routinely find myself switching past the language I wanted to use, and I have to go through the whole list again, or reach for the mouse (which is also painful).  I also find it a problem when I switch to a secondary language when in Word or Outlook, which changes the selected font, even before you start typing, but curiously switching back to English does not revert to the default font.  The key combination Ctrl+Shift for switching between input methods for the selected language has its own set of problems!

Now in Keyman Desktop 8, all these problems are solved.   Press and hold Alt, then press and release Shift (hold that Alt key down!)  The window below will pop up and you can choose your preferred language with the mouse or with the arrow keys.  Alternatively, pressing Shift repeatedly will cycle through the available languages and keyboards.  As soon as you click a keyboard item with the mouse, or release the Alt key, your new keyboard will be selected.

This Language Switch Window lists all the Windows languages and keyboards, IMEs, Text Services and Keyman Desktop keyboards in one simple, clear window.  Finally, if you prefer, you can configure Keyman Desktop to use another hotkey for switching languages.

Universal Language Switching

One of the most common complaints I have heard about Windows language support is that the selected language does not seem to 'stick'.  This usually relates to switching between applications - Windows remembers the selected language and input method for each application.  For most of us, this is just plain irritating!

So by default, Keyman Desktop will also now switch input method and language for all applications, rather than just the active application.  Again, this works across Windows keyboards, IMEs, Text Services and Keyman Desktop keyboards.  You will find this particularly helpful when using modern browsers that have multiple threads and processes for each tab -- and even the address bar -- each of which can have its own selected input language!

Polished Look and Feel, Simplified Dialogs

Almost every dialog and window in Keyman Desktop has been reworked and simplified.  For example, in the Keyboard Menu, we have separated the list of keyboards from the list of tools, and added direct access to the Keyboard Usage, Font Helper and Character Map tools to the menu. 

One of the issues we identified early on in the development of Keyman Desktop 8 was that there was simply too much complexity or noise when starting Keyman Desktop.  In fact, we counted a total of 5 possible windows appearing during the start process.  I am pleased to be able to say that we have reduced this to just 1 in Keyman Desktop 8!

What's more, we've integrated the purchase process so that in most cases the complete purchase can be done from within Keyman Desktop -- no need to enter activation codes or go through a complicated activation process -- it all happens automatically when you press the Buy button (of course, you still have to pay for it first...)!

Single Installer for Light and Professional

We heard the message from many of you: having two installers for Keyman Desktop 7 was confusing!  We have integrated the Light and Professional versions of Keyman Desktop 8 into a single installer, and made it easy to purchase either edition or to upgrade from Light to Professional from a single interface.  There is no need to download or install any additional software when you move from Light to Professional.

TrialPay

With TrialPay, you can get Keyman Desktop Light 8.0 completely free of charge.  Learn more about TrialPay by clicking the Get It Free button in the beta's Buy dialog:

I will cover some more of the features in Keyman Desktop 8 in my next blog.  In the meantime, please download the beta, try it out, and let me know what you think!

http://www.tavultesoft.com/beta/