The layout is the iOS one, with a number row on top. Every key shows a balloon with its character while you hold it.
- The number row, 1 to 0, always there on the letters keyboard.
- The letters, in the QWERTY order of the iOS keyboard, drawn in Inter Display Bold, the open font closest to the face of the iOS keys. The small symbol in the corner of each key is what a long press gives first.
- Shift on the left of the bottom letter row, delete on the right.
- Space, the period key to its right, and return: a blue key of the same shape as the others, with the return arrow in white.
- 123 opens numbers and punctuation: the digits, then
- / : ; ( ) $ & @ ", then# % * + = _ ~ < >, then. , ? ! ' ^ `. - #+= on that page opens the symbols:
[ ] { } # % ^ * + =, then_ \ | ~ < > € £ ¥ •, then° § ¶ © ® ™ ± × ÷, then, ? ! ' „ ” …. 123 goes back to the numbers. - ABC brings the letters back.
Both pages keep the five rows of the letters keyboard, so the keyboard never changes size when you switch. Fields that take only numbers, a PIN, a phone number or a date get a pad of their own instead: see Number pads.
- The emoji button, round, in the bottom left corner, clear of the rounded corner of the screen, opens the emoji panel.
- The hide button, round, in the bottom right corner, puts the keyboard away, like the key on an iPad. Opensolr Keys draws it in place of the small system bar with the keyboard switcher.
Both buttons darken and shrink a little under your finger, and spring back when you lift it.
The bar above the keys is always there, so the keyboard keeps the same height. It shows the autocorrect suggestion, or emoji that fit the word you are typing, or the emoji search box.
When there is nothing to suggest, it shows a settings cog on the left, which opens the settings of Opensolr Keys, the text you copied in the middle, and the Opensolr logo on the right, which opens opensolr.com in your browser. See Pasting from the clipboard.
When the suggestions fill the bar, it scrolls sideways.
The keys at the left and right edge, q, p, 1, 0 and delete among them, answer to a tap on their outer half too: the keyboard asks Android to keep its edge gestures off the keys. Space is kept for the gesture bar underneath, never less than a minimum, and you can add to it with Bottom offset in Settings.
The strip along the bottom, under the keys, is left to Android: with the keyboard open you still swipe up to go home and along the bottom bar to switch apps.
- The key you touch is the key you type. A finger that slips onto the next key while it presses, from m to k on the way down, still types m.
- The touch is read a little above where the finger lands, because a fingertip covers the lower half of what it aims at.
- A touch below the bottom row types nothing. Only a sliver right under the keys still counts for the key above it, so a thumb resting near the bottom edge does not type spaces.
- Likely letters get a larger target. While you type a word, the letters that can come next in it win the border between two keys; the middle of a key is always that key, so any letter is still typed from its own key.