Input sources in GNOME 3.7.4

I’ve been meaning for a while to write an update about the state of Input Sources and what we are doing for them in 3.7. Finally, I have some screenshots to show.

It is no secret that the input source integration we unveiled in 3.6 had some warts; we have pushed very hard to get it in, and there was just not enough time to get all things done (such as an OSD for switching input sources), or done entirely right (such as the UI for modifier-only shortcuts). Also, we’re all still learning about whats important in this area.

Our far-eastern users have taken to bugzilla and the mailing list to let us know what we got wrong. As they should – after all, they are the ones who use these input sources in their daily life, so they are the experts. We have listened, and in 3.7.4, input sources will be able to show options in the menu:

As you can see in this screenshot, the result is not ideal – the ‘Setup’ should really be accessed via the Region & Language Settings panel, not directly from the GNOME shell menu. But the blacklist we had in 3.6 was a really crude way to approach this problem; for 3.8, we will write guidelines for what kind of settings are appropriate to expose in the menu and work with the upstream authors of the ibus engines to implement these.

Another new thing that you can experience in 3.7.4 is the OSD I’ve mentioned above. Rui refactored the existing GNOME shell application switcher for it, so this did not require much new code in the end. It is triggered by the new ‘switch-input-source’ keyboard shortcut, which is bound to Super+space by default.

These are only the fixes that we have landed for 3.7.4. Next on the list is to bring back some form of ‘per-window mode’ and to move the UI for the Alt+Ctrl shortcut from gnome-tweak-tool back into the keyboard shortcuts panel where it belongs. We will also make these shortcuts work in the GNOME shell overview and in other contexts where they are today blocked due to a ‘modal’ context.

Later on, we hope to make the on-screen keyboard update its layout based on the current input source.

 

13 thoughts on “Input sources in GNOME 3.7.4”

  1. Does this mean that Gnome 3.6 will remain in its current horrible state about input sources?! This is a bug and stable releases are supposed to come with bug fixes. I wonder if Fedora 18 is going to be in such a state for its lifetime… 🙁

  2. Nice work! I work with Japanese, and the new OSD looks really good. Thanks to everybody involved.

    Btw, thanks for these news updates: they are really well written. Ho… and thanks for all your hard work over the years!

  3. I have two major problems in GNOME 3.6 (both regressions from 3.4):
    a) Layout switching seems to move focus out and back in to the application. In LibreOffice search, it refocuses the search field, which auto-selects the whole text, and therefore the previous text is overwritten. It means I can’t write “vl[switch layout]áček”, because I end up with “áček”. In Firefox with Adwaita theme, switching layout flashes the whole frame horribly, when Firefox redraws itself as an unfocused application and then focused one again.
    b) The switching is now slow. Sometimes I manage to hit the shortcut and a single character afterwards is written using the _previous_ layout, and only then the layout is finally switched. That’s very annoying, because I have to constantly correct my text (and tell myself “GNOME wants you to type slower!”).

    I’d love to see this fixed in GNOME 3.8, and ideally also backported to GNOME 3.6 as an update (Fedora 18). Muchas gracias.

  4. Hi ! Is it possible at least input source change with Alt+Shift (alt-control, whatever) to be available at some 3.6.x series ?!? Please ! It will be a long time to 3.8.

  5. > Our far-eastern users have taken to bugzilla and the mailing list to let
    > us know what we got wrong.

    It wasn’t our far-eastern users, it was a couple of guys who wanted to rant at us. I don’t link it that you’re condoning their (sometimes truly awful) behaviour.

    1. > It wasn’t our far-eastern users, it was a couple of guys who wanted to rant at us. I don’t link it that you’re condoning their (sometimes truly awful) behaviour.

      Such arrogance explains why we were worthy being ranted at.

  6. Bastien: I think you got it wrong on some aspects like the whitelist/blacklist. That some people were a bit dickish in their communicating does not change that.

  7. I am a far eastern user and have no idea how to input pinyin in Gnome 3.7.3. I am missing the keyboard shortcut at the top right.

  8. InputSource in 3.6 is a big problem. What are following bugs fixed in 3.8?

    1) I can’t switch to first layout by Caps and to second layout by Shift+Caps.
    2) I can’t switch layout in GDM.
    3) I can’t switch layout in locking screen (password field).

  9. Is there any way to get the applications menu back up to the top left, alongside Activities, as it feels like a real step backward to have it pinned at the bottom of the sidebar?

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