Re: [Usability] Keyboard navigation / control proposal?

[Maciej Stachowiak <mjs noisehavoc org>]

On 05Nov2001 01:16AM (+1100), Jeff Waugh wrote:
> Hey all,
> 
> Has anyone done anything about keyboard navigation / control? I can't see
> one on the proposal page, other than the relevant bits in the dialogue
> proposal.
> 
> There's a fair amount of could- or must-fixable stuff to do. Some things off
> the top of my head:
> 
>   * common menu shortcuts

We cover this in the forthcoming HIG.

>   * scope of alt and ctrl keybindings

I don't think it's stated explicitly, but we're generally using Alt
for keyboard navigation (underlined letter type shortcuts and Alt+TAB)
and Ctrl (or Ctrl+Shift) for global shortcuts. I don't think we've
recommended anything using Ctrl+Alt, but I'd put that in the global
shortcut set too.

>   * standard (or 'preferred') WM keybindings

No one has thought about this. A common standard would really need to
include KDE and unaffiliated window managers to be truly
effective. i.e., freedesktop.org material. I hope the GNOME usability
group would participate in designing such a standard.

>   * aiming for familiar results from modifier keys

Not sure what this would entail.

>   * should we provide key mappings for users familiar with other GUIs?

If there's an easy mechanism and someone wants to do it, it would be
OK.

But for the usability project, I think the focus is on using keyboard
shorcuts that are already similar to other systems for common commands
(Ctrl C/X/V for copy/cut/paste, Ctrl Z for undo, Ctrl D for add
bookmark, etc).

 - Maciej