How to add a Documentation tab like the "About" tab

Keyboard App Builder
1

Hi there,

Is there a way to add a button in the navegation drawer that would take the user to an in-app page that shows the documentation for the keyboard?

If not, I guess this would be a feature request. Ideally, such a page would support images and basic HTML, including the <kbd> tag and related CSS formatting.

It seems like having that information in the app would be a really handy, intuitive way for the user to learn about his or her keyboard.

Thanks so much for building this wonderful tool!

2

In Keyboard App Builder, you have full control over the text that are in the Screens. You should be able to put any documentation you want in the screens.

Just like the other App Builders, you can add menu items in the Navigation Drawer. Go to the Navigation Drawer > Menu Items page.

Do you need something else?

3

Thanks Chris! I had forgotten where that was.

I just tried it out, and it looks like it only has the option to link to a webpage. This is acceptable, but not what I was hoping for.

Having the documentation included natively in-app (without having to get online and open a page in a browser) would be a big advantage for the minority language speakers in my context. (And I imagine for minority language speakers in other contexts too.)

I am thinking of these use cases where the user would need to access the documentation offline:

  • The user needs to refer to it frequently as she becomes familiar with the keyboard, but her connection is weak, flaky, or slow. She also worries about data usage (even though text with some PNGs would be minimal).
  • The user needs to send messages via SMS in a place where there is no data.
  • The user wants to compose a message in a place where there is no data, for later sending when he has connectivity again.
  • The user wants to study the documentation at home, but doesn’t have internet at home.
  • Bible translators are learning the keyboard as they draft Scripture on a tablet offline, and need access to the documentation.

Maybe there would be a way to add another page like the About page, for documentation? In addition to CSS styling for <kbd> tags, I imagine support for HTML tables would also be needed.

Thoughts?

4

Also, I meant to link to this discussion about the use of <kbd> tags in documentation, which may be relevant:

5

Also, for what it’s worth, I just noticed that keyboards added with the Keyman app allow access to the documentation whilst offline. (Though it requires quite a bit of tapping around).

Here is a brief screen recording showing how to access the documentation of a Keyboard installed with a Keyman app:

(No audio). (Note that I will need to remove this video from my cloud at some point.)

The documentation page itself looks pretty good!