Virtual Keyboard next to searchbox

[johnnie]

Hi,

Am I the only one seeing this? There is a little keyboard icon next to the searchbox. If you click it, a keyboard appears in which you can 'type' using your mouse.

Why?

[tedster]

Google announced their "virtual keyboard" last Thursday, but you're the first person here to mention it. One purpose I'm thinking of for this feature is touch-screens, like the iPad.

[Syzygy]

< moved from another location >


Google Virtual Keyboard for non-Latin scripts

By the right of the search box on Google.nl is an icon. Clicking on it brings up a keyboard.

The help page for it tells me that...

Our virtual keyboard allows you to enter the precise search terms you want, regardless of the language keys on your physical keyboard. It can be helpful for people who use one of the many non-Latin script-based languages that require special characters such as Arabic, Greek, and Thai.

Click the icon next to your Google search bar to use the on-screen keyboard. Note that it is only available for certain languages that require special characters.

[google.nl...]

Is this new, or has it been there for a while. Never noticed it before, that's for sure.

[edited by: tedster at 4:06 pm (utc) on May 4, 2010]

[rustybrick]

Newish, April 29th or so [googleblog.blogspot.com...]