Input method switch control / indicator placement

[mairin]

Currently anaconda has an input method switching widget in the upper right corner (see screenshot below.) This is required for a few different types of users - for example, a Japanese user needs to be able to switch between kanji, hiragana, katakana, and romaji input. It's also needed for folks who may be multilingual or otherwise have to cope with multiple languages / layouts. (eg English speaker in a French office and needs to configure wifi with a French password using a French keyboard - as configured by default you can't input even basic acute accents IIRC.)

We need to figure out where / when to display the widget for the folks who need it. At a minimum I think it should be displayed wherever there might be keyboard input.

[garrett]

So… is switching between keyboard layouts on the fly anywhere where there is text input necessary? Is it only necessary for a subset of keyboard types?

[garrett]

Other options (just brainstorming): On-screen keyboard (kind of silly, unless it's a subset with special chars); keyboard input switcher button on the side of a text entry.

[mairin]

Japanese folks use US English keyboards so I don't think you can do it based on keyboard type. On screen keyboard for Japanese would be painful.

[mairin]

switcher on the side of a text entry would be weird esp if there's multiple entries on a screen... the switcher doesn't just switch, it indicates the active layout as well. so to indicate a global status specific to a field seems a bit weird.

[garrett]

Thanks for the explanations! It makes more sense now.