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- From: mforget@elfhaven.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Michel Forget)
- Subject: Re: MAUS
- Date: Sun, 22 May 1994 01:33:54 -0600
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Precedence: bulk
-
- In <9405311143.AA04373=avg@mijt.cwi.nl>, you write:
-
- [> Anyway, menu shortcuts SHOULD be configurable from an application, so
- [> the user can throw away control A altogether.
-
- This is a good idea, but it will not be easy. Very few programs
- currently support this feature, and those that do support it in
- different ways. When I wrote this feature for MasterBrowse, I
- elected to try a 'simple' method; ask the user to press the old key
- and then press the new key. As it turns out, this is not the
- best of all solutions (and will soon be changed) because it
- immediately ensures that the user must have a keyboard shortcut
- for EVERY menu selection. CoNnect does much better, but in a way
- that is hard to emulate unless you have a very powerful
- windowed dialog library with popup menus. I think that we can
- all agree on three things:
-
- 1) The method of changing a keypress should be standard for
- all programs that support it.
-
- 2) The name of the menu selection (and the keyboard shortcut
- that activates it) should be the same for all programs that
- support this feature should be the same.
-
- 3) The <Alternate> key should not be used as a keyboard shortcut
- modifier, since users in France use that key to generate
- certain accent characters.
-
- [> I think we should also be
- [> thinking of developing guidelines for such a configurable menu assignment.
- [> A few ideas:
- [>
- [> - Atari's NEWDESK idea (binding keys without control/shift/alternate
- [> to menu items) is not good
-
- True, the NewDesk method is less than intelligent...:)
-
- [> - The user should be warned when s/he introduces a key combination
- [> that is bound to another operation in the official (be it
- [> Atari, German or GEM-list) standard.
-
- Good idea, Annius. Should it ask for confirmation, though, or just
- outright refuse. I'm personally in favour of having the application ask
- for confirmation. The user might not care very much about what we
- think he should use as a keyboard shortcut...
-
- [> Annius V. Groenink | E-mail: avg@cwi.nl | Private & ZFC:
-
-
- --
- () ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ () ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ()
- () Michel Forget / Electric Storm Software () My cat stole my ()
- () mforget@elfhaven.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca () opinions, and pawned ()
- () ess@tibalt.supernet.ab.ca () them off for milk. ()
- () ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ () ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ()
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