D-Board

An ortholinear (grid-aligned) keyboard for Android that eliminates the staggered key layout inherited from mechanical typewriters.

Why

Standard mobile keyboards use staggered QWERTY layouts designed to prevent physical key jams -- a constraint that has no relevance on a touchscreen. The stagger forces unnecessary lateral finger movement and makes muscle memory less consistent. D-Board arranges keys in a uniform grid so every column lines up vertically, reducing finger travel and making key positions predictable.

Screenshots

Light theme	Dark theme

Features

• Full A-Z ortholinear layout (10-9-9 grid)
• Dual space bars (left and right thumb)
• Directional arrow keys (up/down/up/left/right)
• Delete and backspace
• Enter key centered in the letter grid
• Comma, period, and question mark
• Light and dark theme support
• Companion setup activity that launches IME settings

Planned

• Number row
• Shift / capitalization
• Symbol and punctuation layers
• Long-press alternates
• Haptic feedback

Build

Requires Android SDK 24+ and JDK 11.

git clone https://github.com/<your-user>/d-board.git
cd d-board
./gradlew assembleDebug

The APK will be at app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk.

A pre-built APK is also available in the releases/ directory.

Install

adb install app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk

Then on your device:

1. Open Settings > System > Languages & input > On-screen keyboard
2. Enable OrthoKeyboard
3. Switch to it in any text field via the keyboard-switcher icon

Tech stack

• Language: Kotlin
• UI: Android XML layouts (grid of Button views)
• Framework: Android IME (InputMethodService)
• Build: Gradle with Kotlin DSL, Compose plugin (compose enabled in build config)
• Min SDK: 24 (Android 7.0)
• Target SDK: 36

Project structure

app/src/main/
  java/
    OrthoKeyboardService.kt   # IME service — key handling
    com/example/orthokeyboard/
      MainActivity.kt         # Setup screen — opens IME settings
      ui/theme/               # Color, typography, theme definitions
  res/
    layout/
      keyboard.xml            # Ortholinear key grid
      activity_main.xml       # Setup activity layout
    xml/
      method.xml              # IME declaration

License

Not yet specified.