[Usability]Re: [g-a-devel]Re: Info on GtkCombo regarding keynav

[Calum Benson <calum benson sun com>]

Rajkumar Sivasamy wrote:
> 
> > I would say that the up/down keys should work whether there is any text
> > set in the GtkEntry field or not.
> 
> In addition to what you have said I am quoting Padraig, "if the text in
> the GtkEntry of a GtkCombo corresponds to that of a list then the
> up/down arrow keys cycle through the items in the list. If the text is
> not a part of the list then the up/down arrow keys moves focus
> immediately to the other widgets."

Hmm.  I'm trying hard to think of a reason why that behaviour is
particularly useful, but I can't really.  I've also just had a play with
combo boxes on Windows, and they don't seem to do this-- the up/down
arrow keys work whether the text in the entry field matches a list entry
or not.  

Can anybody on usability list offer an explanation, or anybody on
gtk-devel-list remind us why GtkCombo was designed this way?  I couldn't
find anything in the list archives about it, but if there's a good
reason that I'm missing (entirely possible), I guess we should just
leave it as it is.  If GtkCombo is disappearing soon anyway, I guess
it's not worth spending a lot of time worrying about it.

I'm probably getting out of the realms of keynav bugs and into feature
requests here, but another thought just occurred.  Perhaps if you type
something into the text field that doesn't match an existing list entry,
then pressing up or down arrow should select the list item that's
alphabetically nearest to what you've typed.  (The nearest item before
what you typed if you press up arrow, and the nearest item after if you
press down arrow).  After that, subsequent presses on up/down arrow
should just cycle through the list as now.  Windoze doesn't do this
either, BTW  :)

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