Re: [Gramps-devel] Re: [ gramps-Feature Requests-841655 ] Keyboard shortcuts

[Alex R. <sh...@al...>]

On Fri, Nov 14, 2003 at 10:48:12AM +0200, Timo Saarinen wrote:
> >Comment By: Alex Roitman (rshura)
>=20
> > As for the better navigation in Family View, what would you
> > suggest? Right now you can go through all widgets using
> > tab/shift+tab. This is annoying because there's so many
> > widgets. What shortcuts would be appropriate?
> >
> > What we can easily add now is an ability to launch default
> > action when ENTER is pressed on the widget in focus. I would
> > think this would be EditPerson on the active person and on
> > the selected child, EditRelationship on the selected spouse,
> > and Child/parent relationships on the selected parents. This
> > would make ENTER do the same thing as double-click, which is
> > the most consistent approach if you ask me :-)
> >
> > But anyway, the problem is non-trivial because each field
> > has many possible actions and they are not the same between
> > the widgets. I'd be happy to learn how to make it all clear
> > an useable :-) Maybe you can respond to
> > gra...@li... with your suggestions.

Timo,=20

I think that the good keyboard navigation is a big plus and we should=20
get it right. The Family View is a special place in this regard since it=20
has such a density of actions per unit area of the screen :-)

Now to the specific suggestions:

> It's good that ENTER feature exists in CVS version. :-) ENTER for double=
=20
> click sounds good. What about SHIFT+ENTER for shift-click and DEL for=20
> 'minus' operation?=20

This can work. Still, the problem remains how does one select a spouse=20
(if there's more than one in the list) using keyboard? Presently, it can=20
be done using tab, but it takes eternity to get there because there's=20
way too many widgets.
=20
> Ctrl-P
>     Make active person's family the active family=20
>     (P for 'parents'. Parents are in northeast on the screen)

There can be more than one set of parents for an active person. How do=20
we select the one? If one needs to use the mouse for selecting then the=20
right click will do the trick.

Another reservation against Ctrl-p is that it is consistently used for=20
Print function in most apps. Assigning a common shortcut to something=20
unrelated can be misleading.

> Ctrl-L
>     Make spouse's family the active family. (L is south from P=20
>     on keyboard like spouse is south from active person on=20
>     screen)

Well, there are two family views available in gramps (adjusted in=20
preferences dialog, under Display->General category). One is left to=20
right, the other one is top to bottom. The left to right view has the=20
spouse south from active person, while the top to bottom view has the=20
spouse and the person side by side. Not that I have objections against=20
Ctrl-L, but the "south" mnemonics seems shaky :-)
=20
> Ctrl-C
>     Make the current child active person (C is southwest=20
>     from P and L and also like 'Child')

This is a common shortcut for Copy. Also oftenly used for terminating=20
interactive programs.=20

> Ctrl-E
>     Exchange active person with spouse=20
>     (E for 'Exchange' and also in nortwest)

End of the line in Emacs.=20

> Ctrl-A
>     Add a new child (Southwest again)

This is commonly a Select All shortcut. Also beginning of line in Emacs.

> Ctrl-I
>     Add a new set of parents to the active person
>     (Northeast and like 'Insert')
>=20
> Ctrl-J
>     Add a new set of parents to the spouse (South from J=20
>     and south from active person's parents)

OK with me, except for the problem of choosing the spouse from=20
potentially more than one.

> ALT-C
>     focus the children list (accelerator)
>=20
> ALT-L
>     focus relationship list (accelerator)

I like these. Then tab/arrow is enough to move through the lists and my=20
objections above can be disregarded :-) Maybe we should add to this=20
Alt-P and Alt-R for focusing on the lists of AP's and spouse' parents,=20
respectively.

All of these should be very easy to implement, but deciding which are=20
good shortcuts is going to take more discussion. Please post your=20
feedback to help moving this issue to a consensus. Maybe we should use=20
Ctrl+Alt+A or Ctrl+Shift+A instead of Ctrl+A etc. to avoid confusion=20
with common shortcuts?

Thanks,
Alex

--=20
Alexander Roitman   http://ebner.neuroscience.umn.edu/people/alex.html
Dept. of Neuroscience, Lions Research Building
2001 6th Street SE, Minneapolis, MN  55455
Tel (612) 625-7566   FAX (612) 626-9201