[Bf-taskforce25] Keyboard Shortcuts Proposal

[Ben Cox]

Oh, I should also add that having just finished my degree (wahey!) in
Engineering and Comp Sci, and not starting my job until the end of
September, I am very happy to develop or help develop this kind of library,
if it is felt that there is a need for it - I have a fair amount of
experience in server-side programming.

Ben

-----Original Message-----
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:59:41 +0100
From: "Ben Cox" <ben_cox_21 at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Bf-taskforce25] Keyboard Shortcuts Proposal
To: <bf-taskforce25 at blender.org>
Message-ID: <COL115-DS815F42600C831BAA5CDDBD1360 at phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

As several people have mentioned here, there appears to be an issue for
newcomers to Blender in that they may be attempting tutorials or be being
given information that uses a different keymap to their own. I'm going to
chuck out an idea that came to me that may help solve this - what do you
think?

The idea involves writing a web module, easily available at blender.org so
that anyone can use it in their own site. When writing their tutorial, the
author writes operations, rather than explicit button-presses. For example,
let's say that the method chosen to implement this was by an XML parser of
the "bl" namespace. Your tutorial might run something like:

"Hit <bl:key value="extrude" /> to start extruding, drag to the left by one
unit and <bl:key value="operation-finalize" /> to confirm."

As opposed to:

"Hit E to start extruding, drag to the left by one unit and left-click to
confirm."

When a user visits the site, they have the option, by clicking on a link, to
upload their personal keymap file, which can be exported from Blender. The
server takes this file and either stores the associated map as database-held
user preferences (if the site has a login) or as a cookie.

Then, as the source of the requested page is being parsed, the <bl:key />
tags are replaced by their associated key-presses. If no keymap file has
been uploaded or otherwise indicated, then the default Blender key-presses
are used. Otherwise, they are replaced with those held in the keymap,
allowing each user to see a different version of the tutorial.

I hope I've explained this in at least a slightly cogent way - please say if
not and I'll try to rephrase it! What do people think about it?

Ben