[Usability] Re: Re: Switching between tabs with Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab and "recency list"

[Roberto Piscitello <robepisc freemail it>]

Il Mon, 06 Mar 2006 15:41:42 +0000, Calum Benson ha scritto:

> 
> On 3 Mar 2006, at 14:29, Roberto Piscitello wrote:
> 
>> So I think these are the more intuitive, convenient and coherent  
>> combinations:
>>
>> * Alt-Left/Right: switch to the previous/following tab
> 
> That has exactly the same problem as our current documented shortcut  
> (Ctrl+PgUp/PgDn) though-- namely that Alt-left/right is already used  
> by another common control (in this case, text fields, to move the  
> cursor a word at a time).  So if one of those controls on a tab has  
> focus, you can't change tabs any more.  In fact, this is probably  
> more likely to bite you than our current shortcut, as it's really  
> only list/combo controls that consume Ctrl+PgUp/PgDn for themselves.
To move a word at a time you use Ctrl-Left/Rigth.
However Alt-Left/Rigth are already used too, but to move in the
navigation history (Ephy and FF use Alt-Left as a shortcut for the Back
toolbar button). See table 10.9 in the HIG.
IMHO this was a sad choice: in the HIG, they're the only deviation
from the rule "Alt for the WM, Ctrl for apps".
Probably I'll file a bug about that, both because of the afore mentioned
reason and because they could be used for other and more logic purposes.

>> * Alt-1/2/...: switch to the N-th tab (as already is)
> 
> FWIW, this isn't a standard feature of the GtkNotebook control  
> (unless it's been added recently)... if you'd like it to be, you  
> probably ought to comment in http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi? 
> id=87764 or something :)
gedit and epiphany do this way, but there's no mention in the HIG about
these shortcuts.  So you are perfectly right :-) BTW, thanks for the link.

>> PS: IMHO the HIG should recommend something like this:
>> Reserved for the WM and tabs handling(*):
>>   Alt-[Ctrl]-[Shift]-{0-9,anything but A-Z}
>> Reserved for label shortcuts (the ones with an underscore):
>>   Alt-{A-Z}
>> Reserved for applications shortcuts:
>>   Ctrl-[Shift]-{any key}
> 
> Hmm, perhaps, although people already complain that if you follow the  
> HIG to the letter there are barely any shortcuts left to use :)   
> Admittedly what you're suggesting is mostly just a summary of  
> existing guidelines though (apart from the tabs part), so feel free  
> to file a bug and we'll consider it as we're work on the next revision.
Nice to see some activity in this field.
I think it's important good shortcuts are chosen, else they are useless or
even counterproductive.
I'm looking at bugzilla to see what happens and file bugs/comments.

Thanks,
  robepisc