Adding a tool bar for accents

Submitted by JulieCH on Mon, 10/05/2020 - 18:46
Forums: 
Content creation
I am currently trying to help a friend create a simple Spanish learning website. We intend to use all the different features in h5p but for now have started with Missing Words and have come across a problem. I am not an experienced coder but I know there is an extensive knowledge base and I wonder if anyone could perhaps point me to the right area.  The problem concerns the use of accents. For people not used to writing in Spanish, finding the accents on a keyboard is difficult. Some sites provide a choice bar to make it easy for the user to select the accented letter. Does H5P have any way to add such a tool bar to a page like this one.  
otacke's picture

otacke

Mon, 10/05/2020 - 19:48

Hi Julie!

No, H5P doesn't. And in my humble opinion it shoudn't.

There's some form of hierarchy from operating system at the bottom over the browser to some browser application (like H5P) at the top. The lower such a feature is implemented, the more extensive support for special characters is: If you implement such a feature in H5P, then only H5P can use it. If you implement in a browser (or use a plugin like "Special Characters - Click and Paste" for Chrome), then all browser applications running in Chrome can use it without being changed. If you implement it in the operating system, then all applications on that platform can use it. And, I think every major operating system offers a virtual keyboard for assistance already? Definitely iOS and Android and Linux, so I don't think that MacOS or Windows are an exception. Sure, people will have to learn how to activate this virtual keyboard, but they learn something huge that they can use far beyond H5P.

Cheers,
Oliver

JulieCH

Mon, 10/05/2020 - 21:08

Hi and thank you, Oliver,

Your explanation why it would be a bad idea was very clear and it has given me some ideas. The chrome extension you mentioned doesn't seem to have been updated since 2013, so I would worry that that poses some sort of security risk and therefore would be hesitant about recommending it to our users. However, now you have planted that seed, I will go on a search to find something similar but more up-to-date.

Thank you very much. 

otacke's picture

otacke

Mon, 10/05/2020 - 22:14

Hi Julie!

The Chrome extension was just an example. I am pretty sure there are more around. And as I mentioned, I am pretty sure that there all the major operating systems have their own utility and plenty of replacement apps that add some form of virtual keyboard for special characters on a low level so it can be used "everywhere".

Best,
Oliver