Dictionary: Switching input method automatically when switching language

[Shun]

I have a general usability question regarding dictionary search. If I have it set to Chinese with the "C" button and have handwriting input enabled, which is suitable only for inputting Chinese text, could a tap perhaps be saved by having Pleco automatically switch to the Latin keyboard when the user taps on one of the Western-language buttons?

I get the impression that when a user wishes to make a search, they usually very much have their search expression on their minds and feel held back by having to think about such things as switching the input method and the search language. I attach a video with the current behavior.

One could perhaps even add a setting for handwriting as a "preferred input method" for Chinese if one switches the dictionary search from a Western language to Chinese, where both handwriting and pinyin input would be possible. Apart from that, I think the language switching toolbar is a great innovation. Do you feel that this suggestion could improve it further?

Many thanks,

Shun

 

[mikelove]

It's an interesting idea, but I think it could end up being confusing because we can only switch it when you go in that direction - to a language that uses a Latin keyboard exclusively - and not when going back to Chinese. So instead of some hard clear association between languages and input methods, it's a shortcut that happens intermittently and it's not as obvious to users where it happens. There's also the fact that sometimes the language switches while you're typing, which gets in the way of the "handwriting as preferred language for Chinese" idea - if you're in German mode and you start typing in a Pinyin phrase and it jumps you over to Chinese, obviously it shouldn't switch to the handwriting keyboard in that case, but then we're only changing it some times and not other times, so again, intermittent and not obvious to users.

In general I prefer the idea of this being driven by your input method selection - it occurs to you to type a new search, you tap on the clear button above the keyboard, you tap on the keyboard button above the keyboard, and you start typing in your new search and in most cases you don't even have to think to tap on a language because your search term is only valid in one language.

But we can certainly play around with this more and see if it might make sense as an off-by-default option.

 

[Shun]

Thanks! I agree, if one only switches the input method, one usually gets what one wants in a single step, as well, thanks to the intelligent language switching.

Then it boils down to whether one prefers to teach users to do things in a particular way (always use the input method selector) or to offer them multiple different avenues for doing the same thing (let them use either the input method or the language selector).

Just to be absolutely precise, when in a Western mode, I don't see any possibility for confusion between entering pinyin with numbers (-> switches to Chinese pinyin) or tapping on the "C" button (-> switches to Chinese handwriting). Different inputs would lead to different results. The only case that should be avoided, in my view, is if the same input led to different results at different times.

 

[mikelove]

The confusion I'm worried about is that the input method won't always switch when the language changes - it's not that users won't understand what's going on, it's that it'll be inconsistent and therefore confusing. This is also for example why we've eliminated the option for Pleco to sometimes respect the mute switch and sometimes not (now you have the choice of always / never).

If every language had a single specific keyboard associated with it, and we switched to that keyboard when we switched that language, and languages never switched except when you tapped on the language bar, this would all make perfect sense. But with languages switching on their own and with Chinese supporting both keyboard and handwriting/radical input, I'm worried that keyboard changes will seem confusingly random.

 

[Shun]

I understand, that's the principle of outward simplicity. It's too bad I can't try out my suggestion for myself to see if it would really not work—that's something only the developer can do. Thanks again.