On 09/04/2007 12:57:45 AM, John Gabriele wrote:
[...] Geany is a powerful GUI programmer's editor. As such, we should be taking advantage of the key bindings available. This means using Ctrl-Alt ... as well as Shift-Alt.
I agree. I think you summed up everything well, thanks John.
[...] Now, Geany is also using Alt keys to deal with gui elements (including the Alt-1 and Alt-0 combos), and the Shift key to deal with selecting text (holding it down while navigating). I propose then, that Shift-Alt be specifically used for commands that either have to do with the GUI, or else with selecting text. That is, continue to use Shift-Alt-{W,L,P} to select word, line, and paragraph, and add to this list:
- Shift-Alt-J to vertically center ("jump") the window view on the
current line (was Shift-Ctrl-L)
Or maybe Shift-Alt-V for View current line?
- Shift-Alt-{Up,Down} to scroll the window up- and down-by-line.
I think we can use Alt-{Up,Down} for this. We can use both Alt-[^a-z] and Alt-Shift-{x} for GUI-related commands.
[...] Currently, the F-keys are used the way I'm proposing Shift-Alt be used. This is fine, and some users who really want certain F-key commands really at their fingertips may want to re-assign them to unused Shift-Alt key combos. :)
Yes, I think we'll keep the F-keys.
Finally then, this leaves us with the Ctrl-Alt modifier. I propose this be used for how Shift-Alt has previously been used: for special, possibly-less-used or advanced features. This would include:
- Ctrl-Alt-D to insert the date
I guess that's less common, so maybe we could use that even though it won't work by default on Gnome.
And possibly these, having to do with changing case:
- Ctrl-Alt-U (think "all *U*pper or lowercase") to toggle selection
between all upper and lowercase.
Not sure about that. It might be best to use ctrl-u for toggle case, unless there's something better to use ctrl-u for.
- Ctrl-Alt-C ('c' for "capitalize") to make the current word start
with a capital letter and then move the cursor to the end of that word
- Ctrl-Alt-L ('l' for "lowercase") to make the current word start
with a lowercase letter and then move the cursor to the end of that word
Maybe - but can you explain what situations would you use that?
One last problem is possible key combo collisions with desktop managers. Geany cannot possibly sidestep collisions with all desktops.
I think it's worth trying (in theory), especially for the most common desktops. E.g. we don't use Alt-F-key combos to avoid window manager conflicts. But it's probably OK for less common bindings.
<grumble> It'd be nice if Gnome used the super (a.k.a 'Windows' key) for things like show/lock desktop, but maybe they don't want to due to portability reasons. </grumble>
Regards, Nick