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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Bug#45803: keyboard shortcuts have no modifier
From:       "Aaron J. Seigo" <aseigo () olympusproject ! org>
Date:       2002-07-27 2:00:50
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On Friday 26 July 2002 06:54, John Firebaugh wrote:
> On Friday 26 July 2002 1:12, Ingo Klöcker wrote:
> > On Friday 26 July 2002 20:27, hughjonesd@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
> > > Many of Kmail's keyboard shortcuts consist of a single key, with no
> > > modifier key (Ctrl or Alt)
>
> [snip]
>
> > > I think that for usability, it would be better if default keyboard
> > > shortcuts used the Ctrl modifier - except for keys like "home",
> > > "end", "pageup", "pagedown", "delete".
> >
> > I'm against changing the default shortcuts as users who don't like them
> > can change them easily. But I don't close your report because I would
> > like to hear the opinion of another developer first.
>
> IMO this is a violation of the style guide and a dangerous inconsistency.
> KMail, like all other KDE applications, should use Ctrl-<key> combinations
> by default. The current bindings should be an advanced option.

i'm not sure exactly which part of the style guide that says accels need to 
have modifiers (did i miss it?), but there are standard shortcuts that don't 
have an associated modifier. one may say they are special since none of them 
are alphanumeric (e.g. F3 for find again or Page Up), but this is obviously 
due to the fact that the alphanumeric keys must be left alone for situations 
where the user is entering data. so all generic actions require modifier 
keys.

in kmail the key shortcuts are never in conflict with an editing situation, so 
that's a moot point. moreover, managing email is a fairly repetative task 
that entails often performing the same task (i.e. next message) over and over 
again in quick succession all while in a view-only mode. email lends itself 
very well to a single-key modifier system. kmail often gets praised for a UI 
that "stays out of the way of the user". these single key modifiers are 
probably part of the reason for that.

granted, kmail is fairly unique in this way, though not alone: kscd and kcalc 
both use modifier-less accels. again, this is because it makes sense for the 
task at hand.

as ingo pointed out, the accels can be changed from these defaults, so it 
isn't a no-win situation for those who don't like them. and waldo is also 
right in that this is a window manager issue more than a kmail issue (one 
that kwin suffered from for ages, i might add ... thanks to those fixed it!!)

i think the fact that the bug reporter speaks in hypotheticals is telling. i 
wager we'd be hearing about it pretty regularly if people were accidently 
deleting emails due to the accels.

- -- 
Aaron J. Seigo
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler"
    - Albert Einstein
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