Standardization of Function Keys

[Trans <transfire gmail com>]

On Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 9:14 AM, Jasper St. Pierre
<jstpierre mecheye net> wrote:
>
> So now the rules are "F1-F12 map to the first twelve unchanging items
> in the menu"? How am I supposed to know what those are, other than
> blind guessing?

You would look at them. You would still be able to click them with a mouse.

> I use F5 in a web browser for refresh. I don't think I'm alone in this.

Ah, yes, I forgot about that one. I've used it once or twice. I think
that it most commonly used by web developers. Obviously that is useful
in web browsers, but seeing it use is mostly for technical users, it
would easy for them to transition to, for instance, CTRL+F5.

> We're trying to remove large, complex menus altogether and switch to
> simple, unnested menus in the Application Bar for application-global
> things, and add more intuitive operations within the application
> itself. Accepting your proposal would provide acceptance for complex
> menu structures.

I don't see how that more intuitive. In fact it seems almost like
moving backward in time. There was a reason people decided it would be
good to have menus. It provides a unified resource for seeing what
functions a re available in an application. I can understand something
like Microsofts ribbon, which is basically a menu with additional
flexibility in the way it presents it's options. But leaning
operations within the application itself is a really great way to
achieve obscurity. Of course its nice to have intuitive interfaces,
but that does require sacrificing menus.

> There's also the technical issues. This would only work for GTK+
> applications which use a GMenuModel, unless we go playing large hacks
> like Ubuntu/Unity does to gain Qt support.

Ah, yes. I should have realized that. So really this is a beyond the
scope of Gnome, and if it's to make any headway I will need to present
it as a wider convention for applications to follow? Albeit GMenuModel
could make it easier by providing some means of making it easy to
implement.

Thanks.