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List:       kmail-devel
Subject:    Re: [kde] KMail key binding and the User Interface Guidelines
From:       Henrique Pinto <henrique.pinto () kdemail ! net>
Date:       2004-02-02 0:31:27
Message-ID: 401D9A5F.50801 () kdemail ! net
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Hi Robin!

I'm forwarding your message to the kde-usability and kmail-devel 
mailinglists, where it is likely to get more attention.

Robin Rosenberg escreveu:

> Not sure if I should report this as a bug or not. 
> 
> For some time KMail has not obeyed the "standards" with regard to the common keys \
> like arrow-up, down, Ctrl-A etc. In most applications arrow up mens "focus on next \
> item", in KMail it is "scroll down in mail". Ctrl-A means select all item, i KMail \
> it means select all messages, typing a letter focuses on the list item starting \
> with that letter (in kmail its a combination oa actions and selecting items).
> 
> Of course these are useful to some and people coming from inconsistent mail clients \
> may not notice the inconsistency. I do notice. The consistency in KDE's user \
> interface is a big reason for me preferring KDE over Gnome (and GTK applications in \
> general) I'm used to being  able to navigate just about everything from the \
> keyboard using  the "standard" conventions common in Windows and KDE and some other \
>  environments. Kmail breaks a lot.
> 
> I could subscribe to the idea that without a predefined focus some non-standard \
> bindings could be used, but when I explicitly select a pane, by clicking in it or \
> using tab to shift focus to the next pane, things should work the same in all \
> applications. 
> The "focus" is very unclear in KMail. If I use the arrow keys it appears that the \
> messge has focus, but if I press Ctrl-A it appears that the message list has focus \
> pressing J (or something not prebound in Kmail) shifts focus on the first message \
> box starting with the letter 'J'.  Pressing 'K' does not focus one the KDE-list \
> folder 
> If I click on a message and press Ctrl-A, the whole message would be selected in \
> any KDE application I can think of. Except KMail.  
> Another thing is the +/- keys which is most apps mean open/close trees in lists. \
> Again Kmail has it's own idea. 
> A very "similar" application is KNode, but keybindings are very different, but more \
> consistent with the KDE User Interface Guidelines.  
> It seems KDE is moving towards the ad-hoc key bindings of traditional unix apps, \
> where every developer has his own standard. 
> Ofcourse, considering the alternatives, KMail is still my choice, but these are \
> things that annoy me and are possibly very annoying to peoply who cannot choise \
> their method of interaction as easily. 
> 
> -- robin
> 
> 
--
    Henrique Pinto
    henrique.pinto@kdemail.net
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