On-Screen keyboard icon no longer pops up when touch text box

Hello Lucas,

I sense your frustration as till now I can't get it to work.. Im currently downloading Windows 8.1 Preview. I'll test it out and let you know if they decided to go back to the Windows 7 style of input. If you would like to try the Preview out too the link is here.

http://www.windows81.com/2013/06/finally-windows-8-1-preview-isos-are-now-available-for-download/

You may wish to read the FAQs before proceeding with trying this new Operating System however it is recommended you don't try it on a production PC as it may still be buggy.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/preview-faq

I'll test it once it downloads finish and get back to you. ( Unless anyone else has already tried this ? )

Best of wishes,

Nic

Anyone knows if Windows 8.1 resolves this and in Desktop mode when in  an INPUT contorl it will show the keyboard. This worked vey nice in Windows 7.

Windows 7 had this functionality, and Windows 8 does not.  It would be a GREAT help to those of us who work on the desktop from our tablets.

 

Of course, the ideal solution would be having the keyboard itself pop up whenever the user taps into a text field ( with the ability to turn this off is so desired).

These are exactly my sentiments. I have a program we designed which runs in Windows, but has to use the Desktop Mode. We were able to use our program pretty well with a Windows 7 tablet and I was hoping to show off our program with a sleek Acer W510 tablet and I am faced with this frustrating issue.

The best option I've found in hours of searching is a hack that tries to replicate what was present in Windows 7: http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/windows-8/53956-trying-do-tabtip-caller.html

The hack has some noted flaws, though, and it shouldn't take a hack in the first place. I really hope that Microsoft manages to correct this design flaw.

I have tried and tried in Windows 8 IE (both Metro and Desktop), but cannot for the life of me copy anything from a webpage without holding down until the Copy/Paste dialogue pops up. It works, but it adds a few seconds to a procedure that used to be seamless, and those seconds add up after repeated operations.

Right.  Why won't they at least document what is supposed to work so we don't waste time trying to "discover" what probably isn't there?   The way usability works now, nothing is documented, so anything that happens can be stated as being WAD and meanwhile users just waste time and make themselves frustrated trying to make things happen which should happen if the thing was designed with usability in mind but can't because it wasn't.

As for the TIP, I do like the new white on black look, but it bugs me that I can't resize it anymore. Sometimes I only want a single line so I can still see my spreadsheet, and other times I would like more lines so I can complete a full thought before hitting "Insert".

Well, we can move it but if you move it down so only one line is showing or move it to the right you lose all the buttons.   That's where some gestures in the TIP would be handy.   Otherwise having to use the Insert button to flush it just to make more room does interrupt your flow.  

Related to this, what sometimes greatly inconveniences me is IE's conversion of the Insert button into an unconditional Go button.   Also what's with that (totally useless) URL template it keeps inserting and I keep deleting?  Also, the number of times I have had something in the TIP disappear just because I lost focus somewhere else is depressing.  WTH are they thinking?  

Windows 8 introduced a couple more keyboard layout options, but I find myself using the previous one more often than not.

The only time I use those new (leftmost) "keyboards" is in a new account that I haven't yet configured a "standard" keyboard for.   Otherwise I am constantly toggling between TIP and standard and Minimize.  Never close but I'm not really sure if there is any significant difference there.

There is one quirk that I have noticed occasionally that I hope to eventually understand and master which allows both the TIP and the OSK to be running at the same time.   Otherwise a major irritation is not being able to start one when the other is already in use or minimized.   Why?  It's the same kind of arbitrary change that IE7 introduced about not being able to use F11 on more than one window at a time.   Unnecessary, unwanted but more than anything continually irritating every time I forget to compensate for its obstruction.   Designed UX?  Ha!

Robert

The touch features that worked really well in Windows 7, namely the Windows Input Panel and editing flicks, have been removed from Windows 8,

 

No.   They are there.   Or at least they work with a pen.  I supposedly have them activated but I don't think I am skilled enough with the gestures to make any use of them.   E.g. on the practice pad it always says I am too slow and there doesn't seem to be any way to make it slow enough for it to accept my skill level with it.   YMMV.

 

However, I am pretty sure that they do not allow those gestures where they would be really useful--in the TIP.   Is that what your comment is about?   There are other pen gestures which should supposedly work (e.g. the Enter one would be nice to try and master I think) but again I do not seem to have the necessary skill level to pull them off consistently enough, so I just don't bother trying.   And again, I highly doubt that they are enabled inside the TIP where they would be most useful, even if I had the skill to perform them consistently enough.   Another thing that I have given up on is fixing recognition errors.  I just enter my "typos" and then switch to a keyboard to correct them.  FWIW I think that I *once* managed to get all of the editing gestures, etc. working inside a Notepad window but never inside the TIP.   IMO it is essential to enable the icons which indicate when an Editing gesture has been recognized but I have noticed experienced users mocking that feature, so again YMMV.

 

Ref.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/How-do-I-use-gestures-in-Tablet-PC-Input-Panel

 

 

FYI

 

Robert Aldwinckle

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Robert, you are right, they are technically still there. However, they are much more limited in Windows 8 than they were in Windows 7. For example, editing flicks work with a stylus, but no longer with your finger, and even then, they only work within certain applications. I used to be able to copy text from Internet Explorer by swiping diagonally from lower left to upper right and then paste into Word or Excel by swiping the opposite direction. I have tried and tried in Windows 8 IE (both Metro and Desktop), but cannot for the life of me copy anything from a webpage without holding down until the Copy/Paste dialogue pops up. It works, but it adds a few seconds to a procedure that used to be seamless, and those seconds add up after repeated operations.

As for the TIP, I do like the new white on black look, but it bugs me that I can't resize it anymore. Sometimes I only want a single line so I can still see my spreadsheet, and other times I would like more lines so I can complete a full thought before hitting "Insert". The Windows 7 TIP would start with a single line and automatically expand as you continued to write. It also knew the difference between your finger and a stylus, so it came up in either keyboard or handwriting mode automatically, which was very handy. Windows 8 introduced a couple more keyboard layout options, but I find myself using the previous one more often than not. And last but not least, to reiterate the original point, the TIP doesn't pop up automatically anymore unless you are using a Metro UI app, which sucks. Again, it adds a few more seconds to each operation when you have to click the taskbar icon whenever you need to open the TIP. It should at least be an option you can enable to have the TIP icon pop up next to the cell you're editing in Excel or the line you're working on in Word. Afterall, if you wanted an OS that lacked the ability to tweak and customize your interface, you would have just bought a Mac and just let it dictate your workflow.