Re: Function Keys

[Guylhem Aznar]

On Monday, 14 March 2005 at 11:43:58 (-0600), Jesse Ross wrote:
> > May I participate to your work? It would also be interesting to
> > provide to developpers an easy to use reference of mandatory shortcuts
> > (as per Openstep standard) which are not always implemented while they
> > should! Maybe it could somehow be integrated in Gorm (a "check
> > shortcuts" feature?)
> 
> Yes -- I'd love to get help and support on this. The OpenStep spec does
> already specify certain reserved shortcuts for applications (Alt-N New,
> Alt-S Save, etc), as you mentioned.

Yes, however some people may not know about them

> What I am envisioning is something akin to the dedicated volume control,
> brightness control, Exposé control keys. These would be used as the
> default for the distros that ship, but could be customizable/overridable
> by the end user, like Exposé is in OS X (those actually ship default off,
> which is a good idea).

I see. It could be consistent with the "media" keys provided on most
keyboards, currently used by hotkeys (ex: XF86Play ...)

> We should perhaps start with the ones listed in the OpenStep spec, then
> proceed to build a list of environment control functions (like the
> volume/brightness listed above), and then start exploring other places
> where single button control would improve usability. I'm also looking at
> something like this < http://www.datacal.com/ > so that the keys actually
> reflect their functionality.

Personally I'm more interested in the window manager. I would like to
have reserved shortcuts so that applications wouldn't choke on such
shortcuts.

Using Command seems like good idea: Command + edit keys such as
Tab, arrows, page up/down, .., are not used by applications IIRC and
only command+space IIRC is reserved for help. (I must reread the
specs)

-- 
Bien à vous - Best regards,
Guylhem P. Aznar

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