[Bf-taskforce25] Keyboard Shortcuts Proposal

[Ton Roosendaal]

Hi,

> Regarding optimal use of keys: I touched on it briefly, and I'm sure
> there is more theory to explore, but this is what I'm thinking:
> -should be as consistent as possible. (Consistency within the app is
> well established as being positive, but don't forget consistency
> across other apps too)
> -should be as direct as possible (whole point of shortcuts are that
> they are fast)
> -to make them easy to remember, use some logic, like starting letter
> of action, or even the letter symbol itself (as Y for split). This is
> not always possible though.
> -take into account the position on the keyboard. Right handed people
> find it easiest to use the left part of the keyboard.

The last requirement is hard to make a design spec; not only lefthanded 
people have issues, also people using other keyboard layouts...

> I'm not sure everyone has a scroll wheel? We can use it, of course,
> but perhaps not as only way to get at certain functionality.
> Function keys likewise.

I am not talking about single defaults, I am talking about an optimal 
setup as another choice. The setup you use for a serious 3D job, with a 
full keyboard (incl numpad), with one or two screens, fast graphics, 
with a good mouse etc.

A design for this just will differ from a laptop keymap, which should 
support a good alternative for MMB (like Tony mentions), and solve the 
lack of numpad.

Another design is possible for tablet users, you can really make an 
optimal map for this.

And of course the more "new-user-friendly" approach, skipping Fkeys, 
using mainly 1 mouse button, etc.

We have flexible keymaps for a reason you know; not to mimic Maya or 
3DS, but to optimize workflow based on personal preferences and input 
device configurations.

Instead of putting all energy in agreeing on a single way to use 
Blender, we can better classify a couple of default configs that will 
cover what we know *current* artists will need. (Making keymaps for 
Maya users is something they can do themselves... ;)


>> For consistancy, mouse usage rationales van be split in three (yes
>> from
>> Raskin!):
>> - actions (buttons, handlers, manipulators, pickers, menus etc)
>> - view manipulations
>> - selections
>
> You could also split it like this:
>
> -selections (objects, vertices, buttons, handlers, pickers, menus etc)
> -view manipulations
> -other stuff (could be context menu)
>
> Selecting items in a menu, or selecting text is not that different
> conceptually from selecting objects or vertices.

You could, but we follow a UI concept that tries to strictly follow the 
"Select -> Operate" paradigm. It's really two different things, which 
you can expose in mouse usability as well.

Anyhoo, apparently you prefer to only use 1 mouse button for actions & 
selections. Just try to make a good consistant method for that? I'm 
sure a lot of people will like it. :)

Alternatively, I'm totally confident there's a wonderfully designed 
other approach too, which probably will be not standard, 
noob-unfriendly, hard to learn, but extremely fast and pleasant to use. 
That's a feature we shouldn't forget to keep in Blender!

-Ton-