Re: [Usability]keyboard shortcuts and HIG update question

[Gregory Merchan <merchan phys lsu edu>]

On Tue, May 28, 2002 at 01:46:03AM -0400, Luis Villa wrote:
> So I note that in the online version of the HIG[1], alt+f4 [the CUA
> close-window] is listed as the 'correct' shortcut window, but elsewhere
> (i.e., most of gnome-utils and gedit, the theoretically canonical app)
> ctl+w is used. So... which is it?
> 
> Also, can I suggest that the HIG draft page have a link to wherever in
> lxr/cvs the draft HIG is? I tried to find it, but I couldn't :/
> 
> Thanks-
> Luis

This was Ctrl+W when I first wrote it, but I changed it to Alt+F4 given
the following assumptions:

 1) Emacs keybindings and terminal keybindings would be respected.
    (Ctrl+W in Emacs is cut. On many terminals (or is it shells?) it is
     delete previous word.)

 2) MDI - that means either Windows-style window-in-a-window, or 'GNOME-style'
    tabbed MDI - would be a thing of the past. (One app with many windows
    open is not MDI regardless of what the libgnome* api calls it.)

Assumption 1 was taken given feedback from some early reviews. Since such
 keybindings are now nearly gone, it no longer holds.

Assumption 2 was needed because Alt+F4 is a standard window manager binding
for Close. Because in an SDI there is no difference between closing by the
window manager and closing from the app's menus, there is no conflict that
way. Given that people are still trying to contaminate Nautilus with the
MDI germ, MDI probably won't go away any time soon. So this assumption
does not hold.

Calum probably has a patch to revert File->Close to Ctrl+W already. Not
that it matters, but I have no objections; Ctrl+W is what I wanted anyway.


Aside #1:
 This has been this way for half a year. I'm glad everyone is paying attention.

Aside #2:
 Interfaces should be made according to the HIG, not the other way around.
 There should be bug reports against every app using Ctrl+W instead of
 Alt+F4 right now. There should also be a report against the HIG for
 having Alt+F4 instead of Ctrl+W. All of the reports against the apps
 should have a reference to the report against the HIG. Since it's a lot
 to change the apps, the reports against them should be NEEDINFO pending
 a resolution of the HIG report.

Aside #3:
 gedit has other points were it deviates from the HIG.
  1) Neither 'Save All' nor 'Close All' should be on the File menu.
     Both should be on the Documents menu.
  2) The mnemonic for Select All is 's' in the HIG. This is being changed,
     but it's still a deviation.
  3) The mnemonic for Preferences... should be 'n', even though 'e' is not
     taken by any other item on this menu. This keeps the mnemonic the same
     across apps for what is a common item. I looked at many GNOME (and
     non-GNOME) apps to find wording and mnemonics (for English, sorry
     i18n guys) so that menus, menu items, mnemonic, accels, et al. would
     be as stable (or common) as possible. (This item shouldn't have ellipsis,
     but that's a HIG bug.)
  4) The Search menu . . . huh? Search and Find are two different things.
     This is a discussion point in the HIG, but definitely Find et al. should
     not be on a Search menu.
  5) The Help menu deviates from the HIG, but this part of the HIG has
     never been completed.
  6) Close should never ever ever ever be a toolbar item - unless the user
     puts it there himself.
  7) The tooltips on the toolbar need to be reviewed. The one for Find
     says "Search for a string".
     a) This is Find, not Search.
     b) How many users know what is a string?
  8) GtkNotebook tabs should be hidden when there is only one. (This isn't
     explicit in the HIG, but that's a HIG bug.)
 Three other points:
  1) All the dialogs need to be reviewed.
  2) Orange??? (I built from CVS the other day. That's the text background
     I got when I first ran it.)
  3) Having what should be the simplest platform app use an MDI is not good.


Cheers,
Greg Merchan