This is one reason why the app menu was established, allowing each app to put its commands on the app menu, thus bypassing the whole hotkey competition. As long as an app developer makes certain to put all his functions on the app menu, then the user can end up choosing where the hotkeys get assigned, and which apps he will access via the app menu.
Chip From: Rasmussen, Lloyd [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, July 27, 2012 8:48 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: hotkeys in Windows7 The Windows-number hotkeys are for programs that are "pinned" to your taskbar (somewhat like the old Quick Launch bar) or that are running. So you are most likely to have Windows-1 assigned and much less likely to have Windows-9. I had not heard of that Alt-Windows-number shortcut; the context menus for these programs can be useful. Note that several more Windows-letter keys are being assigned in Windows 8, although the whole alphabet is not yet covered. I wonder if you might be able to use Windows with a function key. The problem with that is that some devices by default use their function keys to activate proprietary functions, and you must press the Function key near the lower left corner to turn them in to F1 through F12. I don't know what to advise you to do. Lloyd Rasmussen, Senior Project Engineer National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped Library of Congress 202-707-0535 http://www.loc.gov/nls The preceding opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Library of Congress, NLS. From: David [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, July 27, 2012 3:56 AM To: [email protected] Subject: hotkeys in Windows7 I had an idea of using a couple of hotkeys for one of my app. Under Windows XP, these worked just fine. But when I loaded the app on my netbook, running Windows7 Home, I ran into trouble. Every time I pressed the hotkeys of my app, certain Windows features was carried out instead. I just wonder, if this is normal behavior on those hotkeys - like if it is standard Windows hotkeys in Windows7 - or if my netbook has some unusual ideas of its own. I planned to use the hotkeys of Alt-Windows-1 through three. But for instance, pressing Alt-Windows-1, I was presented with a dialog, and WE says Shortcut list. Same goes with Alt-Windows-2. I Now decided to switch my hotkeys, and tried the Ctrl-Windows-1 tthrough 3. Ctrl-Windows-1, loaded a dialog saying "libraries". 2, loaded Windows Media Player; and 3, loaded Firefox. I ended up having to go for a totally different set of hotkeys. Since this is my first touch with anything above XP, I might be some kind of a dummy here. But is it so, that we are quite limitted in choices of hotkeys in Windows7, due to the OS being set up with a number of new hotkeys? Is my netbook simply behaving normal, or is this out of standard? Any feedback would be appreciated, so that I don't run into trouble when the app is released and installed on other systems. Yes, I know that the user can go to the hotkey manager, and change the hotkeys to fit his computer. But not everyone knows, and best thing is to have an app that works "right out of the box". Thanks, everyone.
