ZipChord 1.7.1

New features

• New UI with separate settings for smart spaces and capitalization, allowing more granular control for where smart spaces are used.

Improvements and fixes

• A new option to stop loading the dictionary after the first error (such as duplicate chord) is encountered.
• A fix for prefixes which could sometimes have the last character deleted.

Note: The smart spaces behavior (see the explanation) is not 1:1 identical to previous versions but it is more consistent. Please let me know your feedback or any issues you encounter under the Issues tab.

ZipChord 1.6.3

New features

• Allows definition of custom keys for different language and keyboard layouts in dictionary file. (See below.)

Improvements

• Prevents double spaces in smart punctuation (if a smart space is included, the first manual space is ignored)
• Fixes an invisible checkbox text in UI in Windows 11
• Prevents registering a chord with a key repeated twice in its definition
• Fully releases hotkeys used to detect chords when ZipChord is disabled in the menu

Under the hood, this release includes refactoring and comments in preparation for a larger update that will allow smarter differentiation of when chords are not intended (so allowing shorter input delays and fewer accidental chords), use of Shift key in chords, and more granular options for automated spacing and capitalization.

Custom keyboards
You can now define a custom set of recognized keys within the dictionary file. To use it, put a "custom_keys" followed by Tab and a list of all the characters that can be typed (without Shift or any modifier keys) somewhere in the dictionary file. (This feature will also be extended with allowing custom rules for punctuation to better support other languages and typographical rules.)

For example, in English QWERTY (already included by default), it could be as follows, separated with TAB:

custom_keys	qwertyuiop[]asdfghjkl;'zxcvbnm,./

ZipChord 1.6.0

New features

• Added an output delay option which can be used if typing in a specific window isn't working well (contributed by @SinclairGurny)

Improvements and Fixes

• Updated UI: I renamed and rearranged several items in the settings window to make it more user friendly. (Decoupled file name and path from number of chords to improve readability; Select button renamed to Open for consistency; "Sensitivity" was renamed to "Input delay" and is grouped with "Output delay" under Sensitivity.)
• Fixed a bug which could result in deleting characters when the cursor was moved. Improved the logic for handling spaces and punctuation.

ZipChord 1.5.2

You can now capitalize the first letter of a chord by pressing (and releasing) Shift before using the chord. (In situations where auto-capitalization doesn't work or if you do not wish to use it.)
Fixed a bug where extra space was sometimes added when the cursor is moved with keys or mouse.
Note: Hopefully, I'll add support for holding Shift at the same time with the chord also, but due to the current workings of ZipChord, this will require a rewrite.

ZipChord 1.5

Added an option "Delete mistyped chords" for automatically deleting (not typing) unrecognized chords. Note that if you tend to type with having multiple keys pressed at the same time for longer than the threshold that triggers the chord recognition, this can result in some intended key presses in your regular typing being deleted. In that case, either do not use this option, or increase the number of milliseconds under Sensitivity.
Updated the UI to disable the recognition options when the recognition is disabled.

ZipChord 1.4

Added version information and linked to the website.
Fixed a bug that prevented the chorded entry to be turned off by using the "Enable" checkbox in the UI.

ZipChord 1.3

Added options for how 'smart punctuation' is treated (off, around chords only, or everywhere). ZipChord can now remind you of existing chords (select text, and hold Ctrl-C), improved chord detection.

ZipChord 1.2

Adds prefix functionality and improves the UI.

ZipChord with UI

Added a graphic user interface and an ability to select and reopen different dictionaries.

Initial release

ZipChord version 1.0
Allows chorded keyboard entry in parallel with standard typing. Simple interface for quickly adding new chord shortcuts, pausing, and modifying the delay sensitivity.