Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2001 18:45:52 +0700 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Keyboard 'long-cut' to Taskbar menu
I've continued to play around with this while using my Libretto without an external mouse, and just in case anyone else following the thread finds it useful, here's an alternative solution and some associated thoughts. - WindowsKey + Tab - Tab -- and repeat, if necessary, until the focus is on the Taskbar - ContextMenuKey - E (to tile vErtically) or H (to tile Horizontally) etc Step 2 (Tab) is the 'interesting', sometimes deceptive, and not necessarily intuitive part. The key (LOL!) however, is that Tab is cycling through a loop, and even if the Taskbar disappears, Tab will continue around the loop - and bring the Taskbar back. What I think is actually happening is something like this:- WindowsKey + Tab brings up the Taskbar, with the focus on the first task (or the Taskbar itself if there are no tasks). Tab moves the focus away from the individual task buttons, and cycles through the items listed below (NB: it does not return the focus to the task buttons on the Taskbar). The loop consists of:- - (a) - moves the focus to the Start Menu button - (b) - moves the focus to the Taskbar - (c) - moves the focus to the desktop (NB: (c) occurs even if the desktop is completely hidden) If Start Menu Autohide *IS* activated, the Taskbar disappears at (c); however, the loop is still in effect and pressing Tab again will bring it back. If Start Menu Autohide *IS NOT* activated, and the desktop is not visible, you can't see if you're at (b) or (c); however, if you hit the context menu key and get a menu associated with a desktop icon - ie discover you're at (c) - you can hit Escape to dismiss the menu and return to the loop, then continue to cycle through the loop with the Tab key to (b). (NB: when no windows are visible, it behaves differently) The bit I can't figure is how to predict where the first Tab will take you - (a), (b), or (c) - nor the sequence in which (a), (b), and (c) will form the loop. If your previous action involved the Taskbar, the first Tab seems to always take you to (b); if not, it appears to depend on what had the focus previous to hitting WindowsKey + Tab, what else is running, and for all I know, the status of Caps.Lock. I guess it may also depend on what else you've got present on your Taskbar, Active Desktop, etc; how your hairy lightbulb is configured, your proximity to a girl in a miniskirt... However, albeit unpredictable, it *IS* a loop - continuing with Tab will get you there eventually. BTW you might expect Shift + Tab to work the same as Tab, with the order of the cycle reversed. And if so, you'd be wrong! Seems to me it cycles between (a), (b), and (c) until the first occurence of (c), and after that it just cycles between (a) and (c)...!?! Not sure, but this could be the most direct keyboard route to the desktop icons (WindowsKey + Tab once, then Shift + Tab until you get there)? I thought WindowsKey followed by Escape might work the same as WindowsKey + Tab followed by Tab; but in the former case, the (a) - (b) - (c) loop is not consistently activated. So, this 'solution' kinda supplements the previous version - they both work. This one might be shorter; however the other has no variables - because the first three steps get you to (a) and then, presumably because the Taskbar was, in a way, activated twice (and thus has the current focus and had the previous focus?), Tab always moves you straight to (b). Here they both are again for ease of comparison:- - WindowsKey + Tab - Tab -- and repeat, if necessary, until the focus is on the Taskbar - ContextMenuKey - E (to tile vErtically) or H (to tile Horizontally) etc - WindowsKey + Tab - WindowsKey - Escape - Tab - ContextMenuKey - E (to tile vErtically) or H (to tile Horizontally) etc Now wouldn't it be neat if we could somehow get WindowsKey + H to tile horizontally, and... Any suggestions? ;-) Sincerely... Steve ************************************************************** http://libretto.basiclink.com - Libretto mailing list http://libretto.basiclink.com/archive - Archives http://www.picante.com/~gtaylor/portable/faq.html - FAQ -------TO UNSUBSCRIBE------- Reply to any of the list messages. The reply mail should be addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Then replace any text on the message's subject line: cmd:unsubscribe --------TO UNSUBSCRIBE DIGEST------ Do above but with this on subject line: cmd:unsubscribe digest **************************************************************
