On Thu, Feb 21, 2002 at 11:38:40PM +0100, Radovan Garabik wrote: > - we need quick and easy and more or less standartized way > to type less often used, but needed characters (prime > example: Euro sign). The actual layout of these extra characters > is dependant on primary layout - e.g. in English layout, > <extra key>+e gives EURO, but in Russian cyrillic layout > <extra key>+e could give CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER UKRAINIAN IE > and <extra key>+i would produce CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER BYELORUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN I > (that was just an example - but a valid one. I personally would benefit > from such a layout). > This <extra key> is conveniently served by AltGr.
Consistency is nice; perhaps prefer key+4 for currency symbols? I'm not suggesting that key combinations not be overloaded--that's the entire point of switching languages--just that there be consistency, like putting currency symbols on the same key whenever possible. (Of course, some people will want to enter both a local currency symbol and the euro symbol; I'm not sure which should take precedence.) > - we need quick and easy and more or less standartized way to switch > keyboard layouts. This is especially important when you want to switch > back to English USA layout (let's have this as a default) from some > other. Typing "setxkbmap" can be very difficult on cyrillic keyboard :-) > Console uses (by convention) Pause to do this. > X often uses (again, by convention) LShift+Rshift. > Pause is quite away from the reach, LShift+Rshift is rather nice and > ergonomic, but I am not sure if linux console driver can do this. > (It should be fixed if not). > There is also known Alt+Shift combination, used by certain proprietary > OS'es 2K uses alt-shift by default; is there anything wrong with this? (If it's restricted to AltGr-shift, it won't conflict with alt-shift sequences, which are also useful. It's not added confusion, since Alt and AltGr are already being overloaded (here) as completely different keys. All else equal, comply with existing practice. No point in being different for the sake of being different. (It doesn't hurt to supply multiple interfaces, such as both LShift+RShift and AltGr-shift. Obviously, there are a lot of people accustomed to X's way, too.) One thought: it might, in theory, be useful to shift when using AltGr "composition". In practice, I don't think it's a good idea to have a keyboard layout that makes me press "alt-shift-p" very often--better off avoiding shifts for those completely. > - Use LWin as Meta_L, RWin as Meta_R. So any of these keys functions > as Meta. Use these keys to switch consoles (LWin+Fn 1-12, RWin+Fn 13-24, > if someone sets up his system to use more than default 6). > These keys automatically offer themselves to be used for console > switching. > - Radical idea: map them to do this also from X (so no Ctrl+Lwin+Fn, just > LWin+Fn is sufficient). I've always wanted consistency here. Having different key combinations for switching consoles when in X and not is annoying. > - For compose key, I got the impression from reading keymaps that RWin is > often used. I propose to use Menu key. The problem is that currently > many window managers are using this key to invoke popup menu. Well... > That is open for discussion. Putty uses Menu for compose, but it doesn't have any context menu. > We could put compose on some unused key, such as PrintScreen or Pause - > but it is unusual and out of reach. But that's occasionally (validly) used. (And, agreed, it's too far away.) > for 101-key keyboards: > - on console, Alt is Meta > - On X, ugh... I know this is difficult. Ideas anyone? > - AltGr is still our <extra key>. > - we have problems with compose. We could use RCtrl, but that would > probably interfere with its usage as Control. Nice way would be > to use AltGr+RCtrl for compose, but I am afraid neither X nor > console allows it. Or distinguish between solitary RCtrl press and > Ctrl+something. Alt+AltGr? I don't think LCtrl should be different from RCtrl. (Distinguishing alts is OK; it's been done for a while. Distinguishing Ctrl keys would be something very new--avoid it unless it's really needed.) > We can still put compose on PrintScreen or somewhere. > There is also very rarely used CapsLock, but remapping this key > (at least in default configuration) is probably too radical idea > to succeed. It's used by efficient typists who occasionally need to TYPE LOTS OF UPPERCASE LETTERS. Don't touch it. :) > for keyboards that have only one of Shift, Alt, Ctrl: > Tough. You cannot have everything. But the basic functionality > is there. "Tough" is never an acceptable answer. If there are actually PC keyboards without these, they should still be thought of. They can't have everything, but don't dismiss it. If there aren't, then there's no point wasting time on them. I've never seen one. > sci-fi ideas (not to be implemented anytime soon): > - timeout for key combination. For example, in certain layout, pressing cx > keys in succession with less then 1 second delay between c and > x would yield LATIN SMALL LETTER C WITH CIRCUMFLEX. > Pressing them with more than 1 second delay would yield two > characters, c and x. I detest time-delay interfaces. Windows in "one-click" mode--hover the mouse to select a file; Mac "click and hold a link to bookmark"--it's extremely frustrating to break flow to suit an interface. For compose, it's even worse--I'm breaking my typing. -- Glenn Maynard -- Linux-UTF8: i18n of Linux on all levels Archive: http://mail.nl.linux.org/linux-utf8/
