Add a way to have variable typing speed

[wizardlink]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
I'd like a way of having variable typing speed, a range for the interval between keystrokes, to attempt to make it feel more human.

Describe the solution you'd like
I want to be able to set a variable, i.e. TypingSpeedVaried [250ms, 350ms] and have the Type actions pick a number in that range when waiting before the next input.

Describe alternatives you've considered
You can Sleep before every keystroke, but that is a very tedious process.

Thank you for the amazing tool you've given us by the way!

[J-C-B]

Hi, if you scroll to the bottom of the readme.....

https://github.com/charmbracelet/vhs?tab=readme-ov-file#set-typing-speed

Type something really slowly!
`Type@500ms "Slow down there, partner."`

Also....

Set Typing Speed

Set TypingSpeed 500ms # 500ms
Set TypingSpeed 1s    # 1s

https://github.com/charmbracelet/vhs?tab=readme-ov-file#type

[wizardlink]

I'm not looking to set a static typing speed for a Type call. What I want here is a way for VHS to change its typing speed for every character it types, within a range.

[prithvijj]

Ehh I took a first stab at it in #580 ,
Feel free to check it out, if that helps with what you had in mind!

[wizardlink]

Tested it, awesome work! Thanks for the contribution, can't wait for it to be merged.

[meowgorithm]

Hey everyone! This is actually great one, however I'm going to convert it into a discussion (for further discussion) until we've decided to integrate it. In general, we're aiming to be as thoughtful as possible about introducing VHS features right now given our internal capacity.

If we do decide to go ahead with this we'll convert it back to an issue.

[ccoVeille]

I'm a random Gopher.

I don't maintain such a large OSS project, so my feedback is simply the one from a random user.

You have your maintenance logic, everyone gets that.

But I wanted to raise the fact that for me, this shouldn't be a new feature, but the behavior of the default one.

Then of course, there is the logic of maintenance or implementation

You already have TypingSpeed option, you could have a TypyingSpeedRandomness in percent defaulting to 0

And then the formula to compute the typing speed is computed by computing

(1-randomness) * TypingSpeed and (1+randomness) * TypingSpeed

With zero at default value, it changes nothing

Then when set to 0.1, the typing speed will be randomly computed between 0.9 and 1.1 of what is now the typing speed

What would you think about this @prithvijj ?

[prithvijj]

Hmmm I'm indifferent on it, purely cause I haven't really played/experienced with adding randomness through percentages as options so,
More following thoughts were that there is the global setting option i.e Set TypingSpeed 1s and the in line option of Type@500ms so in that sense, the user might have to turn on/off the TypingSpeedRandomness depending on their command being executed (Not sure if that's a common use case?)

My random thoughts were let the user decide on the typing speed that they'd like to define, and hence that min/max range would make sense, easier on a maintenance and clear on the expectations on what it ends up doing

[ccoVeille]

You are right, but here we are also talking about implementation 😅

Something I did too 🤦‍♂️

No matter the implementation. What I loved in the feature you added is the fact you made the typing in vhs less robotic and more human.

I would like this to be the default behavior. But I'm fine with anyone saying no we cannot because this and that.

[prithvijj]

Oh yeah for sure, regardless of implementation, the idea behind less robotic typing is kinda neat,

[meowgorithm]

Wow. @ccoVeille, I think this is exactly how it should work.