NWI key bindings

[Matthew Woehlke]

Trying to sum up thoughts on Nested Window Interface key bindings... See 
also http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.kde.usability.devel/355.

---- Switchers are Shiny, i.e. can be eye candy, and look like e.g. 
cover switch, box switch, that we have today, only they need to extend 
to handling a tree rather than a list.

I don't want to get too deep into design of actual switchers, especially 
as I expect switchers can and will be designed by third parties.

---- Switchers have their own key bindings that are logical but not 
necessarily the same as global bindings. While in a switcher, the 
switcher gets all key and mouse events.

Q. Is using own bindings okay or a terrible idea? Should they be 
configurable?

An option would be to accept switcher keys as overriding global keys, 
but accept instructions from global keys. For example, the switcher 
would *only* bind arrows, but global keys would send e.g. next, 
previous. Not sure about this, though; making the switcher keys 
configurable might be better.

---- Global keys are:
historic previous  mod+back
historic next      mod+shift-back
spatial previous   mod+left  (RTL: mod+right)
spatial next       mod+right (RTL: mod+left)
(Switcher is activated by any of the above and stays active as long as 
mod is held.)

Q. What about mod+[shift-]tab; spatial, historic, or root-child-switch?

Q. Do we /need/ "activate switcher {here,at parent}" default bindings? 
If so, what? (For 'at parent', probably mod+pgup?)

Q. Should spatial switching *always* switch horizontal, then vertical, 
or change to respect languages that are read vertically first? (Maybe 
the former, since tab order - I think? - doesn't change under these 
circumstances?)

Mod would be alt or meta (it cannot be ctrl because ctrl is used for 
word-wise operations when editing text). Yes, even ctrl-tab is unavailable.

The "activate switcher" keys would, if tapped, activate the switcher and 
leave it up until a selection is confirmed. If said bindings use a 
modifier, and the modifier is held for a delay (or followed by other 
keypresses while holding the modifier), then releasing the modifier 
confirms the switch.

-- 
Matthew
Please do not quote my e-mail address unobfuscated in message bodies.
-- 
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