Virtual keyboard with slider buttons

A handheld computing system, comprising:

• a touch display;
• a virtual keyboard visually presented by the touch display, the virtual keyboard including one or more slider buttons having a continuous and visually distinct boundary, each slider button including a plurality of borderless touch-selectable items anchored interior the continuous and visually distinct boundary of the slider button;
• a touch-detection module configured to recognize which of the plurality of touch-selectable items is being touched;
• a visual-feedback module configured to visually indicate that a touch-selectable item is considered to be ready for selection by magnifying and shifting a position of that touch-selectable item and expanding the continuous and visually distinct boundary of the slider button to accommodate a magnified size and shifted position of that touch-selectable item responsive to that touch-selectable item being touched;
• and
• a selection module configured to input a touch-selectable item responsive to a touch lifting from that touch-selectable item while the visual-feedback module visually indicates that touch-selectable item is considered to be ready for selection.

A method of processing user input, the method comprising:

• visually presenting with a touch display a virtual keyboard including one or more slider buttons, each slider button including a plurality of touch-selectable items;
• recognizing which of the plurality of touch-selectable items is being touched;
• visually indicating that a touch-selectable item is considered to be ready for selection responsive to that touch-selectable item being touched;
• and
• inputting a touch-selectable item responsive to a touch lifting from that touch-selectable item while the visual-feedback module visually indicates that touch-selectable item is considered to be ready for selection.