Re: Key bindings proposal

[Xah Lee]

Drew Adams wrote:
> > > It mentions explicitly Alt+Letter.
> So what?  No one said that menu accelerators do not _exist_.
> And no one said that Microsoft has no doc describing them.

> I say that my guess is that the percentage of Windows users that 
regularly use -
> or even who have _ever_ tried to use - menu accelerators is very, 
very, _very_
> small.  It simply is not a large part of the global Windows 
experience.  That's
> my guess.

> Do do guess differently?  Do you guess that _most_ Windows users use menu
> accelerators?  Or even 10% of Windows users?  Or 1%?  What's your guess?

> Do your mother, sister, cousin, neighbor, doctor, dentist, car 
mechanic, and
> grocer (who all use Windows no doubt) use Windows menu accelerators?  
Have they
> even heard of such a thing?

> No way.  That's _my_ guess.

> Would they care to use accelerators if you told them about their 
existence and
> how terribly handy they are?  Point them to the URL you passed along 
as proof of
> the importance.  See how quickly they adopt this feature that you 
feel is so
> vital to Windows.

> No way.  That's _my_ guess.

Windows's mechanism for accessing menu is pretty old, starting from mid 
1990s or earlier.

my guess is that most programers use it, and extensively.

when i first started to use Windows in a company in 1998, i learned it 
and use it extensively. I haven't used Windows from about 2002 to 2008, 
but in 2009 i switched from Mac to Windows as my main machine. I still 
use the Alt as a efficient way to operate applications.

for example, one trick is that Alt+Space brings out the generic window 
menu, then you can press c to close the window, or other letter to max 
or min the window. So, typically if i want to close a window, i press 
Alt+Space c, in any application. That's faster than Alt+F4 because F4 is 
far up. Same for minimizing the window. And it works system wide.

likewise, in Explorer (aka a folder on desktop), i can quickly press

Alt v d  to change to listing view.
Alt v m to change to thumbnail view.

and likewise many other operations in diverse applications.

For emacs, it is a different beast so i don't use the Alt way to access 
emacs's menu (after all emacs doesn't really rely on putting commands to 
menus.). But the point here is that the Alt key on Windows is quite old 
and very clean and efficient keyboarding system, and i suspect is still 
heavily used by programers on Windows today.

i think the original design is that it allows people to operate the 
computer wholly without owning a mouse. (at the time mouse is still a 
novelty from Apple) If i recall correctly, it was well praised. It was 
so for Windows in 1990s, and i can still operate Windows completely 
today with just keyboard, reasonably effective (without turning on 
mousing keys on the number keypad; and without considering 3D apps or 
drawing apps etc that really requires mousing.)

though, Lennart's and Uday argue that Alt key under Windows is more 
important than the Win key. This i'm not sure. In last few years, i 
think Microsoft has de-emphasized the importance of the Alt key, and put 
more emphasize on the Win key. Because the Win key got new logo design 
with their new keyboards, and there are more shortcuts assigned to it in 
Vista and more in 7. By default, Windows Vista has the underscore in the 
menu names turned off. I recall reading that it's because few people use 
the Alt key today and the underscore in menu names is a eyesore (because 
average users is happy to use the mouse to pull menus, and the 
underscore confuses them).

in general, the Win key's function is for system wide OS management such 
as app launch/switch, logging out, system sleep. While Alt is for system 
wide control of menus by keyboard for each app.

There are common exceptions of course. e.g. many games will disable Win 
key when they are running. Because, in gaming situation, user don't 
usually want to do any system mangement tasks, and the accidental 
hitting of Win key is a problem. Likewise, many specialized apps will 
have different use of Alt key. e.g. In Second Life (a 3D app), Alt is to 
control camera used in conjunction of mouse. In Blender (3D app), Alt 
also has specialized purposes.

just some input from my experience.

 Xah