Re: Tab Focus

["James A. Laska" <jal233 psu edu>]

>> I don't see a reason why one would like to have focus on mailbox index
>> (am I missing something obvious?).

I was just noting that it doesn't make much sense to provide up/down keyboard
navigation through the mblist_window since the only way to get into that window
is to click in it (i.e. what's the point of using the keyboard to navigate
mailboxes when you have to click to get there).  

So in that case, it would make sense to provide tab-key support to change
between the mblist_window, message_window, and the message_list_window.  This
way you could navigate through mailboxes w/o the mouse.  But, like you've
mentioned, that would go against your modifications to make the
message_list_window unfocusable.

I guess it comes down to which feature-set is more desirable.  I'm a big fan of
mouse-less interaction, so the more I can do without the mouse the better.  I
would suggest:

 - making the message_list_window focusable
 - implementing tab-key support to cycle through the 3 windows (mblist,
msg_view, msglist_view)
 - make up/dn and Pgup/Pgdn keys view dependent

To retain the "older" feel, 'N' and 'P' can still be bound to Next and Prev, and
the default selected window could be the message_view.

I think this is a more solid approach that would increase the useability, but
then again, I've been wrong before :).  Let me know what you think.  I'd be
happy to take a crack at it.

-James

On Sun, 24 Sep 2000 23:46:26 Pawel Salek wrote:
>> 
>> On 2000-09-24 19:04:01 James A. Laska wrote:
>> > With Pawel's changes to support keyboard/enter navigation in
>> > mblist-window, it
>> > would make sense to provide tab key sopport between the different windows
>> > (mailbox, msg-list, msg) of balsa.  This would contradict the change:
>> > 
>> >         * src/balsa-index-page.c: make the message index not focusable in
>> >         order to simplify the keyboard navigation (next and prev ara
>> >         available through shortcuts anyway).
>> > 
>> > But I think it would be better to select your focus before determining
>> > the action.  Plus, keyboard navigation is always quicker than the mouse.
>> 
>> I see my approach to the keyboard navigation is not self-explanatory. Too
>> bad. I will try again: the point with making message index unfocusable is
>> to make message scrolling easier and make key usage more consistent no
>> matter if the message list hes the focus, or message preview.
>> 
>> I guess that most of the people want to scroll the message with PgUp/PgDown
>> and arrow keys, while moving through the list of messages one by one is
>> most often satisfactory. By making the message index unfocusable,
>> PgUp/PgDown and arrow keys always scroll the message, and 'P' and 'N' move
>> you to previous and next message, respectively. It is an improvement, IMO,
>> and I don't see a reason why one would like to have focus on mailbox index
>> (am I missing something obvious?).
>> 
>> /Pawel
>> -- 
>> Pawel Salek (pawsa@theochem.kth.se) http://www.theochem.kth.se/~pawsa/
>> Theoretical Chemistry Division, KTH voice: +46 8 790-8202
>> 
>> 
>> 

================================
  James A. Laska
  email: jal233@psu.edu
================================