This week, I started working on implementing the frontend of an onscreen keyboard in Python using Tkinter. Originally, I had planned on creating an application using Flutter; however, after reevaluating my inexperience in app development and the relatively steep learning curve, I pivoted, discussed, and agreed with my team members that starting with a simpler interface using Python would be more beneficial. I was able to get the ‘Tab’ and arrow keys for navigating across the keyboard to work and also added a feature to highlight the key that the user is on. There is a section for the user to type inputs and works like a normal keyboard. Now, I plan on adding more features (eg. adding a cursor and autocomplete) to this Python application each week before considering moving this onto a web application.
Even after changing the frontend designs and my list of tasks to accomplish, I am on schedule. This coming week, I will be working on the design document and I hope to add a cursor to the screen. This cursor will be able to move across the screen in two separate modes: up/down and left/right. One of the tasks I will be researching for this is whether to include it in the frontend or write a backend script that will enable this motion.