Key bindings

One of Alpha's features is that you can define a key binding for almost everything. In HTML mode and CSS mode there is an easy way to add key bindings to the menu items and to change or remove the existing key bindings.

To modify the key bindings in the HTML menu and HTML Utilities menu choose Key Bindings... in the Preferences submenu of the HTML menu. To modify the key bindings in the CSS menu use Key Bindings... in the CSS menu.

First a window with a list of all submenus is opened where you pick the menu you want to redefine. In this list main menus are called HTML, Utilities and CSS. Let us for example choose the menu Lists.

First a window is opened, as shown above, with the current key bindings.

Beside each menu item, or pair of menu items for dynamic ones, is a button 'Set...'. Clicking such a button opens another window where you can change the binding. For example, clicking 'Set...' beside 'Directory' opens the window

For dynamic items the checkbox for option is absent. Option is always used to toggle between the two items of the dynamic menu item and doesn't have to be selected explicitly.

To define a binding either select 'Normal key' in the popup menu and type a character in the text box, or choose one of the special keys in the popup menu. Then choose which of the modifiers shift, ctrl, option, and command you want.

To remove a binding select <No binding> in the popup menu.

Tip: To find out if a certain key combination already is used for anything, type F7 and then the key combination. An alert then shows which the binding is. If you want a list of all bindings defined, use Config -> List All Bindings.

Key bindings for character entities

It is also possible to define key bindings for the character entities found in the submenus of the Character entities menu. These bindings are not displayed in the menu. The advantage with this is that you can bind the entities to any key you like including accented characters. By default the following bindings are defined:

To change the key bindings for the character entities select use Key Bindings in the Preferences menu and select any of the four menus Small Chars, Capital Chars, Other Chars 1, or Other Chars 2.

The key bindings dialog for the entities have more options including the possibility to add a prefix in the binding.