iPhone’s Become a master of all domains

One of the most useful advantages to the iPhone’s software keyboard is that it can change—mutate, if you will—depending on the context in which you find yourself. Safari’s location field is perhaps the best example of this: the iPhone removes the spacebar and replaces it with buttons for the period, slash, and “.com” suffix—all handy additions when you’re typing in URLs.

But what of those other domains besides .com? Well, as a tipster over at Mac OS X Hints points out, it turns out if you’ve enabled any international keyboard support (under Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> International keyboards), you’ll find an extra added bonus. When you switch to those keyboards in Safari’s location bar (by using the Globe button), holding down the “.com” button will also give you the option of choosing the country domain for the keyboard you’re using. So, for example, using the French keyboard layout will let you pick between “.com” and “.fr,” German will give you the option of using “.de,” and the British keyboard layout will let you choose “.co.uk”.

Sure, that’s all great, but there are more than just country codes. I’d like to see Safari’s keyboard offer the choice between “.com,” “.org,” and “.net”. Why the hate towards those non-.com sites? Is this because of that whole boom and crash? That was years ago! Time to move on.