Re: menu accelerators

[Lars Clausen <lrclause cs uiuc edu>]

On Sat, 2 Dec 2000, Guy Harris wrote:

> On Sat, Dec 02, 2000 at 01:51:57AM -0600, Lars Clausen wrote:
>>> I don't think that's ever gotten in my way; however, it *might* surprise
>>> somebody used to Windows (where I think the Alt key can be down or not
>>> when the menu-item mnemonic is pressed) or, I think, Motif (which, if I
>>> remember correctly, requires that you *keep* the Alt key down).
>> 
>> Very possible.  I feel (but not strongly) that the underline markup should
>> go away in favor of right-hand changeable shortcuts.  The underline markup
>> is an ugly mix of name and functionality.
> 
> Perhaps, but, for what it's worth, it's used on a number of toolkits
> (Windows, Motif, Qt, GTK+) and my fingers have gotten quite used to it,
> so I'd be unhappy if it were completely removed.

True.  Ironically, it can create a style of accelerating that becomes close
to how Emacs commands are entered (Quit: Alt-f Alt-x vs. Ctrl-x Ctrl-c).

> Heck, Ethereal uses them in places *other* than menus; I *really really
> really really* like being able to drive a UI without having to fondle
> the rodent.

I understand that.  And I don't suppose you'd be happy with just using the
arrow keys.

> I feel strongly that they shouldn't go away, but perhaps allowing the
> user to globally specify that they don't *personally* want them would be
> nice.

Yes, that would be a Good Thing[tm].

Or how about this:  If the menu is opened with Alt-*, the Alt-* commands
work as normal, but if it's opened with the mouse, they are just another
set of keycombos for accelerators.  Or is that non-intuitive[1]?

-Lars

[1] Sometimes I feel that the word 'non-intuitive' has the same use in GUI
discussions as 'communist' in the 50ies.

-- 
Lars Clausen (http://shasta.cs.uiuc.edu/~lrclause) | Hårdgrim of Numenor
"I do not agree with a word that you say, but I    | Retainer of Sir Kegg
will defend to the death your right to say it."    |   of Westfield
    --Evelyn Beatrice Hall paraphrasing Voltaire   | Chaos Berserker of Khorne