Ubuntu shortcut spec? (Was: Urgent call for testing: Firefox 2.0RC3)

[Matthew Paul Thomas]

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On Oct 24, 2006, at 10:09 PM, Arwyn Hainsworth wrote:
> ...
> The current shortcut situation seems to be a down right mess. With 
> half the applications following Gnome, the others doing random things 
> of their own. As a result some people end up closing windows, going 
> back pages and getting really frustrated. Ubuntu is definitely not a 
> consistent desktop shortcut wise.

The main cause is that the Gnome developers decided both to retain the 
traditional Ctrl+W/H/A/E/K/U key combos where possible, *and* to use 
the Control key for Windows-style key combinations. This was 
monumentally silly, and will continue to be so as long as people keep 
trying to do both.

(I'm not defending the Windows-style combinations, though: 
Ctrl+A/Z/X/C/V in particular are awkward to type because the modifier 
key is so far away, a problem that doesn't exist with Command+A/Z/X/C/V 
in Mac OS or Alt+A/Z/X/C/V in GNUstep.)

> I think this needs fixing. So I'm suggesting the following: Someone 
> sits down and writes a Ubuntu Shortcut Spec. This spec should define 
> what shortcuts do what in Ubuntu and all programs should be patched to 
> follow the spec unconditionally.
>
> This sound simple, but due to the vast number of conflicting shortcuts 
> people are used to, this will be a very heated subject. The end result 
> however, will be worth it I believe.
> ...

Writing such a specification would be easy, ;-) but Ubuntu probably 
doesn't have enough developers or earmuffs to implement it.

Cheers
- --
Matthew Paul Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/
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