Re: [Usability] Using Control-Esc and Windows keys to access the start menu

[Thorsten Wilms <t_w_ freenet de>]

On Tue, Aug 22, 2006 at 10:58:30AM -0500, Shaun McCance wrote:
> 
> So I'm going to use Mathematica as an example.  Mathematica needs
> to have quite a number of keyboard shortcuts to enable you to input
> mathematical expressions using only the keyboard.  Unlike Inkscape,
> Mathematica is a very keyboard-oriented application.
> 
> Here's a sample of Mathematica's shortcuts, many of which use keys
> that aren't commonly used by other applications:
> 
> Ctrl+6  superscript
> Ctrl+-  subscript
> Ctrl+7  overscript
> Ctrl+=  underscript
> Ctrl+/  fraction
> Ctrl+2  radical
> Ctrl+.  extend selection
> Ctrl+Space  end subexpression

I use Ctrl+Space to move focus to the deskbar applet :)

Thinking about some infrastructure ... say apps can announce 
their default keybindings so they can be checked in a central 
configuartion dialog.

One could view a list of all shortcuts and the actions some 
applications (would) use them for.

That would be a place to decide in case of conflicts between 
Wm and any app. And such conflicts woud be obvious right away.
Instead of only having the WM catch a shortcut or not, priority 
lists could be used, allowing to have shortcuts that do something 
in an application, but are used by the WM otherwise. Complicated, 
but I could see myself using it with a keyboard monster like 
Blender ;)

It could also be a design help, for app developers to choose 
same shortcuts for similar actions.


--
Thorsten Wilms