#diarace

BASIC FUNCTION

holding any one of the keys down will allow you to see the options built into it.

it helps to already be familiar with the layout of the hiragana chart; the あ key will enable you to type the characters in the あ-row, the ま key will enable you to type the characters in the ま-row… etc.

tapping the keys once will produce the character in the respective row that ends with the vowel sound ‘A’; the character that is displayed on the key itself.

flicking left will produce the character that ends with the vowel sound ‘I’; flicking left on the な key will produce the character に

flicking upwards will produce the character that ends with the vowel sound ‘U’; flicking upwards on the な key will produce the character ぬ

flicking right will produce the character that ends with the vowel sound ‘E’; flicking right on the な key will produce the character ね

flicking downwards will produce the character that ends with the vowel sound ‘O’; flicking downwards on the な key will produce the character の

‼️this is slightly different for the や and わ keys. hold them down to familiarise yourself with their specific options.‼️

alternatively, you can move through the rows of characters by repeatedly tapping the keys, kind of like typing the alphabet on a brick phone.

to add a dakuten to a character you have just typed, tap this key

to add a handakuten to a character in the は-row, double-tap it instead

this key also transforms the character つ (as well as the five vowels) into their 小さい forms (小 meaning ‘small’ — ぁぃぅぇぉっ)

CONVERSION

it is easy to convert from hiragana to kanji. when you type something that might correspond to kanji, options will be displayed above the keyboard. click whichever one corresponds to the kanji you intended to type. scroll through it (or click the arrow to open up the options as a dropdown menu) until you find it.

the options displayed for the input 「からい」

converting from hiragana to katakana (or to half-width katakana) works in a similar way.

the options displayed for the input 「わくわく」

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

- the ➡️ key allows you to type strings of the same character (e.g. 「ああああああああ」 or 「ただ」 in 「ただいま」) without cycling through different ones.

- the ^_^ key opens up a looooong list of kaomoji.