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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Ctrl-Q vs. Ctrl-W vs. Alt-F4
From:       Markus <kamikazow () web ! de>
Date:       2009-01-09 14:56:21
Message-ID: 200901091556.22172.kamikazow () web ! de
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Hello people.
I'm quite confused about the various "close" shortcuts.
As a former Mac user the situation across *nix X11 apps seems very 
inconsistent to me. I start here on kde-usability, because KDE apps are also 
inconsistent in this regard.

Here is how I think it should work:
Crtl-Q --as the letter Q suggests -- should _q_uit an application, including 
all windows.

Ctrl-W should close the current _w_indow. With the rise of tabs, this shortcut 
became also the one to close them. That's fine, but when there are no two ore 
more tabs within one window, Ctrl-W should close the window.

Alt-F4 should IMHO close the entire window, regardless if there are any tabs.

Sadly, the three KDE apps, I use most, handle these shortcuts completely 
different.

Case 1: Dolphin
Ctrl-Q only closes the active window. Other windows are not affected.
Ctrl-W only closes the active tab, but never the window if there are no other 
tabs. To make matters worse, there's no indication in Dolphin's GUI (neither 
in the menu, nor as a tooltip) that Ctrl-W closes a tab.
Alt-F4 closes the window, just like Ctrl-Q does.

Case 2: Kontact
Ctrl-Q closes the whole app, including an open mail composing window and the 
Akregator tray icon, but only when the main Kontact window is active. When I'm 
composing a mail, Ctrl-Q does not work, but Ctrl-W is available to close the 
composing window. The composing window can also be closed with Alt-F4.
The Kontact main window can only be closed with Alt-F4, not Ctrl-W.

Case 3: Kopete
When I have a chat window with some tabs open, Ctrl-W closes the active tab. 
When there are no other tabs, Ctrl-W closes the window.
When I have a chat window with some tabs open, Ctrl-Q and Alt-F4 both close 
the window, incl. all tabs but Kopete still runs.
When the contact list is the active window, I can only close the contact list 
by pressing Alt-F4, not Ctrl-W. When I press Ctrl-Q while the contact list is 
the active window, Kopete really quits -- all chat windows / chat tabs are 
closed as well.

Detour: Firefox
I know, it's no KDE app, but I think I should mention it as well, because I 
think that Firefox comes close to what I think is the optimal solution.
Ctrl-Q closes the whole app, no matter how many windows and tabs are open.
Alt-F4 closes the active window, regardless how many tabs are open.
Ctrl-W closes the active tab. Ctrl-W also works to close preferences windows. 
Ctrl-W never works in the above KDE apps' preferences windows.
Sadly Ctrl-W does not closes the active browser window, if only one tab is 
open.

What do you think?
Bye, Markus

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