Orca on laptops.

[Bill Haneman]

Joanmarie Diggs wrote:
>>> So what modifier key would you like to use for Orca?
>>>       
>> Couldn't this be just configurable?
>>     
>
> I agree that this would make the most sense.  As Luke pointed out, there
> are so many different layouts (not to mention so many different users).
> Is there a reason we need to select THE Orca modifier key?
>   
I agree that configurability makes sense.  However, I think choosing a 
reasonable laptop default is also important, because there are so many 
potential conflicts; it's quite likely that only one or two choices are 
really usable for people.  For instance, you don't want to lose the use 
of menu shortcuts, access keys, or keyboard navigation while using orca 
- all of which could come in to conflict with one's chosen modifier key.

There are really only 8 possible modifiers in XWindows I think - 
corresponding to the first 8 bits in the modifier mask.  That includes 
ShiftLock and Shift.

I guess one possible way to get out of the "conflict situation" would be 
to exclude ShiftLock from the orca modifier mask;  that is, ignore any 
orca commands that are executed with ShiftLock on.  This would give a 
quick and relatively easy way to access any key combinations/shortcuts 
that were in conflict with orca commands.  For instance, if orca used 
'Control', one could still access cut and paste via "Control-X" and 
"Control-V" by pressing ShiftLock first.

On my system, the "Windows" key seems to map to one of the Xserver 
modifier masks, whereas the "Menu" key seems to be some sort of function 
key.  I am sure that this varies from laptop to laptop quite widely.  If 
you choose to rule out the Windows meta key, then on many laptops you 
only will have Control, Alt, and AltGr, practically speaking.  Alt seems 
like a troublesome choice since the majority of keyboard shortcuts in 
Gnome use Alt.

AltGr is one that often gets forgotten; what about that?  It does appear 
to be a modifier key on all the systems I am aware of.

regards

Bill
> --Joanie
>
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