Activating menu (was Re: KDE4 default shortcut theme)

[Lubos Lunak]

On so 31. března 2007, Thiago Macieira wrote:
> Lubos Lunak wrote:
> > This is exactly the same like another very similar feature, which has
> > only a different key (Win) and a different menu (Windows Start
> > menu/K-Menu).
>
> I'm sorry, but there's one big difference between those two:
>
> For the K Menu, we control the single action in the desktop that it
> triggers.
>
> For the menubar, we do not control whether applications act in response to
> Alt or not. Qt-only applications, for instance (like Skype and Google
> Earth), do act.

 I have some doubts about this being doable in KDE without changing Qt, so I 
guess there's no difference between Qt-only and KDE apps here.

> Other applications in the desktop do too. By the same 
> token, other applications in the desktop do not and instead act on F10
> (Gtk-based applications, including Mozilla).

 Maybe it'd be a good idea to try to have it consistent then? And selecting 
between one that's broken and one that's not is simple.

> Some oddballs like Opera act to neither.

 Strange. I thought Opera was Qt. Maybe they've already found out that Alt is 
broken, were able to turn it off but were unable to change it to something 
else due to the reasons mentioned above.

> My personal preference would be for Alt to stay

 Alt is broken. I used to recompile Qt before I started using the standalone 
menubar (which as an unintentional feature includes breaking this 
misfeature).

> and free up F10 for more 
> important tasks. But that's me. Considering I've just found out I have
> used Gimp and Mozilla time and again and never noticed they did not react
> to Alt, I believe I don't use that shortcut quite that often (only in
> KMail, I think).

 That depends on personal habits I guess. With keyboard control (note that 
both GIMP and Mozilla are very mouse-based apps, moreover as you said you 
actually do use the shortcut) I think the shortcut is the best way to 
activate the menubar. Using Alt+<letter> doesn't quite cut it, because I 
first have to find out that <letter> or remember one, which changes per app 
and per language and for things worth remembering I can already remember the 
shortcut for the action itself.

 Would there be a way to have the shortcut configurable in Qt so that people 
who don't want/need it could simply reassign it to something else in kcmkeys?

-- 
Lubos Lunak
KDE developer
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