Re: on application focus navigation (was: On ctrl-tab)

[Matthias Clasen <matthias clasen gmail com>]

On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 2:53 PM, Jud Craft <craftjml gmail com> wrote:
> On another note related to the widget-group problem, consider GEdit
> and Rhythmbox, specifically their toolbars, and arrow key navigation
> of a toolbar.
>
>
>
> In GEdit, I can enter the toolbar using tab and ctrl-tab.  I can only
> exit it using tab (ctrl-tab, which should get into anything, gets
> stuck in it for some reason...).  I can also use the arrow keys, which
> is pretty cool, but if you're moving through fields with ctrl-tab, I
> don't want to change over to a new shortcut.
>
> In Rhythmbox, I can enter the toolbar using tab.  But, you can't
> navigate it with either tab or ctrl-tab!  You have to use the darn
> arrow keys only!

To clear up some of the confusion here, the difference is not how you
can _enter_ the toolbar, it is how you can leave the widget before it.
Gedits content pane needs to accept tab as input, thus you are
required to use Ctrl-tab to leave it. In rhythmbox, regular tab works
since it doesn't have to accept tab as input.


[...]

> The only thing more frustration than multiple options for keyboard
> navigation, are multiple options that only work at certain times.
> It's frustrating enough that Tab has text-entry conflicts.

Unless you invent a keyboard that has reserved keys for focus
navigation, there will always be conflicts.