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List:       kde-core-devel
Subject:    Re: US-specific shortcuts
From:       Ellis Whitehead <kde () ellisw ! net>
Date:       2001-07-10 18:23:15
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Hi Malte,

> However on a German keyboard,
> those keys are rather unrelated: + (one key below its US location) and =
> (shift-0 [zero]) are on different keys
It's true that Meta+= and Meta++ are separated on the German keyboard, but so 
would something like Meta+M (maximize) and Meta+H (max horizontal) be.  The 
thinking behind the assignments wasn't to get them on the same keys, but to 
avoid conflict with other shortcuts and have them be somewhat rememberable.  
Most of the minimize/maximize shortcuts are infrequently used, so having them 
relegated to less handy combinations isn't 
inappropriate.

> I could imagine
> there are other layouts with differences to the US layout when it comes to
> such characters.
This is an issue which is important to keep in mind so that shortcuts which 
are impossible for certain layouts are avoided.  But since the +,-,=,| 
shortcuts are possible, I don't see that having them at different positions 
and requiring varying modifiers on different layouts is a problem...  More 
problematic for the German/English typist is that Z & Y switch. ;)

In regard to Meta+<anyletter> shorcuts, I would contend they they should 
generally be left free for user-defined shortcuts (e.g, Meta+M for KMail and 
Meta+H for KHexedit).

Regards,
Ellis

On Monday 09 July 2001 10:38 pm, Malte Starostik wrote:
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> Hi,
>
> KView has , [comma] as a shortcut for rotate by 90 degrees and ;
> [semicolon] for rotate by 270 degrees. The latter is inaccessible on some
> kezboard layouts (e.g. German), where ; [semicolon] requires a modifier
> (shift). I changed it locally to . [period] instead. However I'm not sure
> if there is any keyboard layout that requires a modifier for . [period] - I
> doubt that though.
> IMHO we should refrain from ever using punctuation characters for the
> default shortcuts to avoid such problems. letters, numbers, space, enter,
> return, escape, home, end, F-keys etc. are fine AFAIK.
> There are also some problems the new 4-modifier scheme. I like that scheme
> and think it makes much sense in the way it is organized. However it
> contains some problematic shortcuts:
> Maximize window (Meta++), Maximize window vertically (Meta+|) and Maximize
> window horizontally (Meta+=), Minimize window (Meta+-) and Shade window
> (Meta+_) are okay on a US keyboard as those keys are close to each other
> (and the actions somewhat related) and e.g. maximize and maximize
> horizontally happen to be on the same key. However on a German keyboard,
> those keys are rather unrelated: + (one key below its US location) and =
> (shift-0 [zero]) are on different keys, | is all the way accross the
> keyboard (next to the left shift key and needs Alt Gr). I could imagine
> there are other layouts with differences to the US layout when it comes to
> such characters.
>
> Any objections against checking all modules for such shortcuts at least in
> K*Action ctor calls and the keyboard scheme files and changing them to
> something "less problematic"? Otherwise I'd like to do so...
> Another solution would be to "translate" such shortcuts - NOT the usual
> ones like Ctrl-{z,x,c,v} (although z is not on the same row as the others
> for de_DE either :), just those that just don't work or require anatomical
> anomalies in the hand to use :)
>
> - --
> Malte Starostik
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