Feature request #294: REQUEST: Rework hot key user interface to fit more keys

Comments

1. Greg Hurrell 2005-09-09T04:56:07Z

   Created an attachment (id=34) Proposed layout

2. Greg Hurrell 2005-09-09T05:07:21Z

   Notes from user email about the attached screenshot:

   ---------- START EMAIL ----------

   "You will note some differences, which I have detailed below:

   Most importantly of course: there are ten more hotkeys;

   The [set...] buttons have disappeared > the user should click the current hotkey field to achieve the same functionality (i.e. popping up the key entry sheet). BTW that was something I found confusing to start with anyhow: you see a text entry field which is not clickable;

   The width of the hotkey fields is narrowed (by 38 pixels to be exact). I based this width on the longest possible key combination I could come up with (Command + Option + Control + Shift + F10) used for the 'Quit Synergy' option in my example;

   Before you say 'arrow keys!' look at the track and Volume hotkeys: I replaced them with actual arrows to save (considerable!) space;

   I adjusted the alignment of all hotkey fields so they truly fit on the grid you intended (a 30 pixel vertical distance). In other words: your current lay-out is not consistent, sir ;-) The lower two fields are off by 1 and 3 pixels respectively and have a slightly different width.

   That's basically it. Apart from a new preference pane lay-out I think the only new functionality needed is shifting the [set...] button status to the hotkey field and replacing the arrow key texts with arrow symbols."

   ---------- END EMAIL ----------

   Thanks for submitting the screenshot and the suggestions. This is a pretty big change, especially taking into account the number of localizations that will have to be reworked. Due to the magnitude of the changes I've set the milestone for this one to version 3.0. Getting rid of the "Set..." buttons will require a new NSTextField subclass to be written; I'll need to implement whatever features the new hot keys are supposed to be attached to as well, which could take some time; there'll probably be quite a lot of work with the many different localizers in order to massage the UI into a new shape that works for all different languages (the trouble is that the space is already very tight on some localizations, and I can't make the window itself any larger because then it wouldn't fit on the smallest iBook screens); finally, there are some keys on the keyboard which you really can't represent using a single character, the most obvious of which is the "Space" bar...

3. Greg Hurrell 2005-09-09T05:11:19Z

   I've added a number of dependencies on this request. If you see any more that I've missed please add them.

4. Greg Hurrell 2006-07-05T02:06:27Z

   Changing assignment to reflect my new email address.

   https://wincent.dev/a/news/archives/2006/05/change_of_email.php

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