Re: [Usability] A bunch of UI issues

[Calum Benson <calum benson sun com>]

lukekendall optushome com au wrote:

> Though maybe I've completely misunderstood the section
> on "Additional Widget Navigation Shortcut Keys"?  Perhaps that's just a
> mode that Emacs fans can choose to turn on, and which are off by
> default?

Yes, the mode thing is exactly right-- as I understand it, emacs
keybindings will be 'off' by default in GNOME 2.0.  That section is in
the HIG just to warn developers not to use those emacs keybindings for
their own purposes, to avoid clashing with users who *do* prefer the
emacs text editing features.

> One final point about accessibility.  Won't some users find *any*
> multi-key shortcut impossible to type?  Like any Ctrl-X combo at all?
> If you only have one hand, or one finger ...

Fear not, there is a solution  :)  AccessX is a program that uses the
XKB extension to implement many accessibility features like this:

http://cmos-eng.rehab.uiuc.edu/accessx/overview.html

There are versions of AccessX available for most systems now, and
there's a GNOME 2.0 version in the pipeline as we speak...

> If so, is there a way to modify the input model so that Ctrl (etc.) can
> be pressed and released, and still modify the following key?

Yes, that's exactly what the AccessX "sticky keys" feature does.

Cheeri,
Calum.

-- 
CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer       Sun Microsystems Ireland
mailto:calum benson ireland sun com    Desktop Engineering Group
http://www.sun.ie                      +353 1 819 9771

Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems