Learning jQuery

Virtual Keyboard Plugins

A virtual keyboard is a component that allows a user to enter characters without a physical keyboard. It’s an alternative input mechanism for those who cannot use a physical keyboard, or for multi-lingual users who switch frequently between different character sets or alphabets. Virtual keyboards are commonly used as an on-screen input method on smart devices or small devices with no ability/space to attach a physical keyboard.

In this post, you’ll find a compiled list of 12 awesome jQuery virtual keyboard plugins, which allow you to attach an on-screen virtual keyboard. These jQuery plugins support various keyboard layouts, different languages, various theme options for look and feel and option for having a QWERTY keyboard, numeric keyboard or mixed keyboard.  If you are not happy with the default keyboard layout, then you can create your own layout with ease. Enjoy!

Keyboard

Keyboard is an on-screen keyboard jQuery plugin embedded within the browser window which will pop up when a specified entry field is focused. The end user can type and then preview the input before accepting or cancelling. It can be set to always remain open, and can also be programmed not to show a preview. The plugin can be programmed to display a QWERTY keyboard, numeric keyboard, alphabetic keyboard, hex value keyboard or iPad style keyboard. For sensitive information, there is also an option to mask the input. This plugin is dependent on the jQuery UI library.

Talking Keyboard

Talking keyboard is a jQuery based plugin that enables an interactive and speaking English QWERTY keyboard. It is based upon SkeletonCSS, jQuery, and ResponsiveVoice. ResponsiveVoice is a HTML5-based Text-To-Speech library designed to add voice features to websites and apps across all smartphone, tablet and desktop devices. It supports 51 languages in 168 voices, with no dependencies. The beauty of this plugin is that it speaks when the user types any character.

jKeyboard

jkeyboard is a jQuery plugin for creating an on screen visual keyboard that supports custom layouts for multiple languages. It supports English, Azeri Turkish (a Turkic language) and Russian language. It can be programmed for a QWERTY keyboard or a numeric keyboard.

Keypad

Keypad is a jQuery plugin that attaches a popup keyboard to a text field for mouse-driven entries or adds an inline keypad in a division or span. The keypad functionality can easily be added to a text field with appropriate default settings. Use it with a password field for more secure text entry. You can also remove the keypad widget if it is no longer required. This plugin supports many languages which helps to implement localization. This plugin also allows users to randomize the key’s position for security purposes.

Keyboard Pagination

Keyboard pagination is a lightweight jQuery plugin which allows you to attach keyboard shortcuts for pagination. Once attached, using the keyboards left and right arrows, you can switch between the previous and the next page. This really helps to make the website more interactive.  It attaches a custom callback function code, detecting which one of the two keyboard arrow keys were selected: left or right. It then selects a corresponding pagination link and simply simulates (triggers) a click event for it. It supports numbered (1,2, 3...) links, previous or next page links and first and last page links.

 MLkeyboard

ML Keyboard is a multi-language jQuery virtual keyboard with features for changing input layouts on the flight. It opens up the virtual keyboard at the bottom of the page, when there is a focus on the attached input field. It currently supports English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Russian languages. It also comes with various configurable options to control the keyboard display, like displaying the keyboard permanently, or controlling the opening and closing speed.

jQKeyboard

jQKeyboard is a jQuery plugin that allows you to add a responsive virtual keyboard to the input text field. It creates an alphanumeric keyboard and allows you to customize the default layout of the keyboard to your liking.

jQuery Keyboard

jQuery Keyboard is a jQuery plugin for drawing a virtual keyboard. It is dependent on jQuery and Bootstrap. It comes with 3 themes and 5 languages. It has several themes to customize the keyboard.  You can choose the language of the keyboard to draw, if it is defined that the keyboard type will be: 'Full Keyboard' or 'KeyPad'. It has several options of personalization and customization to choose from.

jQVirtual Keyboard

jQVirtual Keyboard is a jQuery and jQuery UI based virtual keyboard plugin that creates a draggable keyboard on the screen. Currently it supports English and Bulgarian, but it also provides an option to create your own layout for the keyboard via a custom layout. You can also choose a dark or light overall theme depending on your page design.

 SoftKey

SoftKey is a jQuery based virtual keyboard plugin that creates an on-screen keyboard. This plugin allows you to define the layout of the keyboard and customize to your liking. You can define the layout as per your choice and set the order for number and alphabet keys.

jQBTK

jQBTK (jQuery Bootstrap Touch Keyboard) is a jQuery plugin for creating customizable on-screen virtual keyboards & numpads on mobile touch devices. It only works with touch devices. The plugin listens for touch events and uses the Bootstrap popover component, dynamically adding buttons to form a keyboard and inserting the characters into the HTML input when pressed.

NumPad

NumPad is a flexible touch-optimized jQuery plugin for creating a numeric keypad for web applications based on jQuery, but it is mainly intended to be used in mobile web applications to quickly input numbers. The numeric keypad can be used to fill inputs, password fields, general div-elements or entire table columns. It works perfectly with most frameworks, including jQuery mobile and Bootstrap.

Conclusion

To conclude, these jQuery virtual keyboard plugins allow you to add an on-screen virtual keyboard to any input field. These plugins support different keyboard layouts, offer many languages and come with a variety of different theme options. Based on your needs, you can either open a QWERTY keyboard or a numpad keyboard. Some of the plugins also allow the user to change the layout/position of the keys as per their need.