Florence / News: Recent posts

Florence is an extensible scalable virtual keyboard for X11. You need it if you can't use a real hardware keyboard, for example because you are disabled, your keyboard is broken or because you use a tablet PC, but you must be able to use a pointing device (as a mouse, a trackball, or a touchscreen)

This is a bug fix release with patches provided by Jeremy Bobbio, Jonathan David and Benedikt Spranger.

Florence is an extensible scalable virtual keyboard for X. You need it if you can't use a real hardware keyboard, for example because you are disabled, your keyboard is broken or because you use a tablet PC, but you must be able to use a pointing device (as a mouse, a trackball, or a touchscreen); If you can't use a pointing device, there is gok, which can be used with just simple switches.

This release fixes some minor problems found on 0.6.1.

Florence is an extensible scalable virtual keyboard for X. You need it if you can't use a real hardware keyboard, for example because you are disabled, your keyboard is broken or because you use a tablet PC, but you must be able to use a pointing device (as a mouse, a trackball, or a touchscreen); If you can't use a pointing device, there is gok, which can be used with just simple switches.

This release fixes some stability issues.

Florence is an extensible scalable virtual keyboard for GNOME. You need it if you can't use a real hardware keyboard, for example because you are disabled, your keyboard is broken or because you use a tablet PC, but you must be able to use a pointing device (as a mouse, a trackball, or a touchscreen); If you can't use a pointing device, there is gok, which can be used with just simple switches.

This release is about GNOME3.
GTK2, gconf and panelapplet are deprecated, replaced by GTK3 and gsettings.
A new branch has been created for maintaining gtk2 code.
Version 0.5.4 still works on GNOME2 and is still maintained.... read more

Florence is an extensible scalable virtual keyboard for GNOME. You need it if you can't use a real hardware keyboard, for example because you are disabled, your keyboard is broken or because you use a tablet PC, but you must be able to use a pointing device (as a mouse, a trackball, or a touchscreen); If you can't use a pointing device, there is gok, which can be used with just simple switches.

This release introduces some interface improvements:
There is now a sound feedback when pressing or releasing keys and the police is configurable.
A new dbus interface has been added to control the keyboard from other processes.... read more

Florence is an extensible scalable virtual keyboard for GNOME. You need it if you can't use a real hardware keyboard, for example because you are disabled, your keyboard is broken or because you use a tablet PC, but you must be able to use a pointing device (as a mouse, a trackball, or a touchscreen); If you can't use a pointing device, there is gok, which can be used with just simple switches.

This release introduces the touch screen input method.
There has been some improvements to the ramble input method.
Modifier (Alt, Shift, Ctrl, etc...) keys + click now works.
Florence strings has been partially translated in Italian by the Ardesia team:
http://code.google.com/p/ardesia/
Some other minor improvements have been added and a lot of bugs have been fixed.... read more

Florence is an extensible scalable virtual keyboard for GNOME. You need it if you can't use a real hardware keyboard, for example because you are disabled, your keyboard is broken or because you use a tablet PC, but you must be able to use a pointing device (as a mouse, a trackball, or a touchscreen); If you can't use a pointing device, there is gok, which can be used with just simple switches.
This is release 0.5.1... read more

Florence is an extensible scalable virtual keyboard for GNOME. You need it if you can't use a real hardware keyboard, for example because you are disabled, your keyboard is broken or because you use a tablet PC, but you must be able to use a pointing device (as a mouse, a trackball, or a touchscreen); If you can't use a pointing device, there is gok, which can be used with just simple switches.

New in this release:... read more

Florence is an extensible scalable on-screen virtual keyboard for GNOME that stays out of your way when not needed. You need it if you can't use a real keyboard either because of a handicap, broken keyboard or tablet PC but you can use a pointing device.

New feature implemented: latch to lock. Press a modifier key 1 time to
latch it and press it again to lock it.
Many bug fixes and code cleanup.

Florence is an extensible scalable on-screen virtual keyboard for GNOME that stays out of your way when not needed. You need it if you can't use a real keyboard either because of a handicap, broken keyboard or tablet PC but you can use a pointing device.

Florence can now be used at gdm login time.
Read the Tips section of the user manual for more information about that.
You can now use a configuraion file instead of gconf and you can explicitely specify a window to send input events to.
A new focus zoom parameter hes been added to help visually impaired people (in the style section).
Florence should aso work better with unusual window managers.

Florence is an extensible scalable virtual keyboard for GNOME. You need it if you can't use a real hardware keyboard, for example because you are disabled, your keyboard is broken or because you use a tablet PC, but you must be able to use a pointing device (as a mouse, a trackball, or a touchscreen); If you can't use a pointing device, there is gok, which can be used with just simple switches.

This is mainly a bug fix release.
The high CPU workload problem has been fixed.
Documentation has been moved to gnome-doc-utils.
Florence now listens to keys-changed events. It means that you can switch layout without restarting the program.
Note that the Xorg RECORD extension is broken since version 1.6. Because of this, Florence with xrecord does not work correctly with recent distros like Ubuntu 9.04, Mandriva 2009.1 or Fedora 11. Please compile Florence without xrecord if you are using Xorg 1.6: use the --without-xrecord configure option.

Florence is an extensible scalable virtual keyboard for GNOME. You need it if you can't use a real hardware keyboard, for example because you are disabled, your keyboard is broken or because you use a tablet PC, but you must be able to use a pointing device (as a mouse, a trackball, or a touchscreen); If you can't use a pointing device, there is gok, which can be used with just simple switches.

This release implements action keys.
Those keys are available as a layout extension.
They allow to access Florence functions without requiring a systray.
Many bugs have been fixed.
If you have problems with this release, please try to compile without the xtst extension (--without-xtst configure option)

Florence is an extensible scalable virtual keyboard for GNOME. You need it if you can't use a real hardware keyboard, for example because you are disabled, your keyboard is broken or because you use a tablet PC, but you must be able to use a pointing device (as a mouse, a trackball, or a touchscreen); If you can't use a pointing device, there is gok, which can be used with just simple switches.

This release lowers the entry barrier to compile Florence.
Now the XKB extension is optional: the --without-xkb configure option will disable it. The drawback is that Florence will not read the real keyboard status at startup, so locker keys like CAPS_LOCK will be ignored if they are set when Florence is launched. Make sure all locker keys are released when launching Florence without xkb.
The aim is to be able to run florence on X servers without the XKB extension like Exceed.
The at-spi registry daemon has also been made optional since many systems don't have it. You can disable it with the --without-at-spi option at configure time. This will disable auto-hide mode as this mode does not work without the at-spi registry daemon.
A new layout file is now available: compact. You can select it from the settings dialog (layout tab).
Many bug have been fixed, so this release is more stable that 0.4.1 (it doesn't crash with the new xorg).

Florence is an extensible scalable virtual keyboard for GNOME. You need it if you can't use a real hardware keyboard, for example because you are disabled, your keyboard is broken or because you use a tablet PC, but you must be able to use a pointing device (as a mouse, a trackball, or a touchscreen); If you can't use a pointing device, there is gok, which can be used with just simple switches.

In release 0.4.1, Florence now collaborates with the real keyboard, so for example if push the real CAPS_LOCK key Florence knows it and updates itself (requires libxtst). There is a new startup notification giving some basic informations on Florence usage. You can disable it permanently by clicking on the 'Do not show again' button and it can be disabled at compile time with --without-notify. Now style changes are applied immediately so you can see the result directly. You can still cancel them before exiting the settings dialog. Windows gravity set to static so it does not move when you switch the decorated flag. key labels have been Internationalized and localized in french. Some minor bugs have been fixed.

Florence is an extensible scalable on-screen virtual keyboard for GNOME that stays out of your way when you don't need it. You need it if you can't use a real keyboard either because of a handicap, disease, broken keyboard or tablet PC but you can use a pointing device.

Visible changes:
The configuration dialog has been revamped with tabs.
It is cleaner, easier to understand and to find options.
This allows for adding many future options while keeping it simple.
One option has been added in the window tab to make the keyboard semi-transparent.
Two other options have been added to make auto-hide experience better.
First one is the move_to_widget options which was always on before. You can now disable it and prevent the keyboard from moving to the selected widget (this is now he default).
Second one is the intermediate icon option which makes Florence less intrusive when you just want to read a document and not edit it with the keyboard. Enable this option and a small icon will appear instead of the keyboard. Just click on that icon to make the actual keyboard appear.
Many bugs concerning auto-hide mode has also been fixed, so this mode is now fairly usable (still only with at-spi enabled applications, meaning all gtk apps, firefox, openoffice, java apps and some others).
Last and least, the super key has been rebranded with Florence smile in the hope it will help you keeping your smile.... read more

Florence is an extensible scalable virtual keyboard for GNOME.

The big change in this release is internationalization. The project has been internationalized with gettext and localized in french. In addition to that, some minor bugs have been fixed.

Florence is an extensible scalable virtual keyboard for GNOME.

This release focuses on usability. The settings dialog has changed to allow more control on visual settings. The zoom scrollbar has been replaced with the ability to resize the window more naturally from the window manager.

The focus of this release is style.
You can now select a style for the keyboard in the settings dialog.
The default style has been updated and 2 new styles have been added.
The settings dialog now listens to gconf events.

The most visible change of this version is its speed. It starts more quickly and is more responsive. Animation is also smoother.
The non-locking modifiers keys don't behave exactly like previous versions of florence. All modifiers are released when a non-modifier key is pressed.
Under the hood, I have redesigned all the drawing system to use less memory with cairo and librsvg instead of libgnomecanvas and libart. I have also replaced xml schema validation with relax-ng (compact syntax) validation for the layout file. This is much more readable and maintainable.

Fix some minor bugs submited by users.

Florence is an extensible scalable on-screen virtual keyboard for GNOME that stays out of your way when you don't need it. It is useful if you can't use a real keyboard either because of a handicap, disease, broken keyboard, or tablet PC but you can use a pointing device. It aims at being easy and pretty.

Changes:
Change the icon.
FLO_DEBUG environment variable replaced with the -d option.
Added help menu item and documentation (--with-docs configure option)
The web site has been updated.

Florence is an extensible scalable on-screen virtual keyboard for GNOME that stays out of your way when you don't need it. It is useful if you can't use a real keyboard either because of a handicap, disease, broken keyboard, or tablet PC but you can use a pointing device. It aims at being easy and pretty.

Changes:
New Function keys extension.
Default to no auto-click as it seems most users don't use it.
Initalize the keyboard with the state of the real keyboard (lock keys).
Get the modifier keys from XKB instead of hard coding them.
Hack for the Alt key so it doesn't move the window when it is activated.
Lot of comments added to the code.

Florence is an extensible scalable on-screen virtual keyboard for GNOME that stays out of your way when you don't need it. It is useful if you can't use a real keyboard either because of a handicap, disease, broken keyboard, or tablet PC but you can use a pointing device. It aims at being easy and pretty.

Changes:
New style framework allows for better theme tweaking.
New Numpad extension accessible via the preferences dialog.
Lot of bug fixes.

Florence is aa extensible scalable on-screen virtual keyboard for GNOME that stays out of your way when you don't need it. It is useful if you can't use a real keyboard either because of a handicap, disease, broken keyboard, or tablet PC but you can use a pointing device. It aims at being easy and pretty.

Added an arrows keypad extension (check the preferences dialog to activate it). The preference dialog can now be launched with the --config option of florence (for those who don't have a systray). The README file contains useful informations about running Florence without GNOME (on XFCE, KDE and more).

New release of Florence:

Florence is a scalable on-screen virtual keyboard for GNOME that stays out of your way when you don't need it. You need it if you can't use a real keyboard either because of a handicap, disease, broken keyboard or tablet PC but you can use a pointing device.

Some info-bubbles added, some bug fixes. The biggest changes are internal. The layout key file is now a xml (xsd validated) file instead of a basic key file. It makes florence dependant on libxml. This allows more complex changes in the future layout. Future version will include extensions like function keys, arrow keys and numpad as well as eye-candy stuff like svg keys and composite effects. Stay tuned...