advice2020 created an issue (geany/geany#4566) Linux / Debian 13 Geany 2.1
I noticed that when using toolbar fields such as `Search Bar` and `Jump To Line`, keyboard shortcut navigation/actions seem to have strange behavior. For this post I will use the toolbar `Search Bar` field as example. `CURRENT BEHAVIOR` -Press shortcut key to apply focus into `Search Bar` field -Type in keyword to search for and you will notice that the first instance of the keyword gets highlighted in the typing pane below. -While focus is in this field.... These shortcuts work well ENTER = advances highlight to the next instance of keyword SHIFT+ENTER = brings highlight to the previous instance of keyword These shortcuts (at least to me) can feel strange/unexpected behavior ESCAPE = moves focus to that keyword in the typing pane below TAB = brings focus from the field to the Tab Bar below the toolbar. (TAB key is often used to cycle through sections, but in a text editor this can be strange, because when focus is now in Tab Bar, if you hit TAB key again it brings focus to typing pane, but then hitting TAB key again now no longer continues the cycling through the interface because now the TAB key is used in the typing pane to indent) ARROW UP = moves focus from field to the icon to its left ARROW DOWN = moves focus from field to the icon to its right PAGEUP = no action currently PAGEDOWN = no action currently ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ `POSSIBLE UPDATES` I assume developers will know better then I would if the above shortcuts mentioned have to remain as is/serve expected purpose. Again, to me these seem a little strange but maybe are needed to achieve focusing in areas of this application using keyboard. Developers would have to decide what is the best approach for this if any changes at all are even considered to be made. I will just share a couple of different ideas that maybe could be helpful, (I know some I will mention might not make sense). CTRL+ENTER = bring focus directly into the typing pane below, to the current keyword highlighted (action that ESCAPE key currently achieves) ESCAPE = clear the entire field, allowing user to type in a new keyword to search for (To me the ESCAPE key is used more to cancel an action/close a dialog, not cycle to other section of an application) TAB = bring focus directly into the typing pane below, to the current keyword highlighted (action that ESCAPE key currently achieves) ARROW DOWN = bring focus directly into the typing pane below, to the current keyword highlighted (action that ESCAPE key currently achieves) ARROW UP = brings highlight to the previous instance of keyword (action that SHIFT+ENTER keys currently achieves) ARROW DOWN = advances highlight to the next instance of keyword (action that ENTER key currently achieves) (ENTER and SHIFT+ENTER would still remain available, these would just be doubles) These page keys have nothing assigned, maybe they could be used? PAGEUP = brings highlight to the previous instance of keyword (action that SHIFT+ENTER keys currently achieves PAGEDOWN = advances highlight to the next instance of keyword (action that ENTER key currently achieves) PAGEDOWN = bring focus directly into the typing pane below, to the current keyword highlighted (action that ESCAPE key currently achieves) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ My posts often get ignored so this will probably just remain as is, so this was probably not worth typing all this. Current keys may be a little strange but might have been setup like this to achieve ability to apply focus to different sections in Geany? Again these are just some ideas, not sure if anyone has any better ideas for use of keyboard keys with toolbar fields? SUGGESTION If everything is to stay the same, I was wondering if any developers would at least consider adding the following shortcut to bring the focus into the typing pane. CTRL+ENTER = bring focus directly into the typing pane below, to the current keyword highlighted. This would bring the focus to the currently selected keyword in typing pane. I think this is nice because it works with the ENTER key like the other two ENTER based shortcuts do. The only way to achieve this currently that I know of as mentioned in the ESCAPE key. ESCAPE = clear the entire field, allowing user to type in a new keyword to search for. To me the ESCAPE key is used more to cancel an action/close a dialog, not cycle to other section of an application. Hopefully someone will agree enough to add this. Thank you to anyone who reads this -- Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: https://github.com/geany/geany/issues/4566 You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Message ID: <geany/geany/issues/[email protected]>
