Windows Suggestions

[Pat]

(If this is not an appropriate group for general Windows suggestions,
please point me elsewhere. If there is no such group, then may this
suggestion die a quick and painless, yet most honorable, death.)


Hi,

I have a suggestion for Windows. It would be nice if there was a
concept of "universal" keyboard commands. For example, CTRL+C could be
mapped, by the user, to a universal command called "Copy."

As it is now, most applications use CTRL+C as copy, but there is no real
uniformity to this. Some users prefer to use CTRL+INSERT for copy, and
this is less commonly supported.

Applications would have the choice of directly handling either the
CTRL+C messages (as they do now) or handling the "universal" message
that the "Copy" key was pressed. This would allow the most flexibility,
so that existing apps would continue to work normally, but new apps
would have the option of switching to the more generic approach.

Only the most common commands need representation as "universal"
commands. Things like cut, copy, paste, undo, redo, select-all, select-
none, etc... And media commands like play, pause, stop, record would be
nice, too. Interestingly, "record" could apply to recording audio or
video, as well as something like recording a macro in a text editor or
spreadsheet.

I think that the fact that every application has a different default
keymapping -- and the fact that some of them aren't even remappable --
is a major learning obstacle for many users. For example, CTRL+Z in the
newsreader application that I'm using right now maps to something
completely unrelated to "undo," and it gets me every time.

This could be accomplished as a third-party application, but it would be
much less effective. The application would only be able to offer a sort
of dynamic re-mapping. It could intercept keystrokes and convert them
based on a table, like so:

Key Sequence Application Remapped Sequence
--------------------------------------------------
CTRL+Z Word CTRL+Z
CTRL+Z Excel CTRL+Z
CTRL+Z XNews ALT+BACKSPACE
....

This would be cumbersome and would require the user to update the table
for every application. Having the concept of universal commands built
into the operating system would be much more elegant.

Thanks.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

(If this is not an appropriate group for general Windows suggestions,
please point me elsewhere. If there is no such group, then may this
suggestion die a quick and painless, yet most honorable, death.)


Hi,

I have a suggestion for Windows.

No, it's not appropriate here, simply because there is nobody here to
do anything with your suggestion. You are not addressing Microsoft.

This is a peer support newsgroup. We are all just Windows XP users
here, helping each other if and when we can. We are not Microsoft
employees (not even those of us with "Microsoft MVP" behind our names;
that's an honorary title for having provided consistently helpful
advice) except for an occasional employee who posts here unofficially
on his own time.

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

(If this is not an appropriate group for general Windows suggestions,
please point me elsewhere. If there is no such group, then may this
suggestion die a quick and painless, yet most honorable, death.)


Hi,

I have a suggestion for Windows. It would be nice if there was a
concept of "universal" keyboard commands. For example, CTRL+C could be
mapped, by the user, to a universal command called "Copy."

As it is now, most applications use CTRL+C as copy, but there is no real
uniformity to this. Some users prefer to use CTRL+INSERT for copy, and
this is less commonly supported.

Applications would have the choice of directly handling either the
CTRL+C messages (as they do now) or handling the "universal" message
that the "Copy" key was pressed. This would allow the most flexibility,
so that existing apps would continue to work normally, but new apps
would have the option of switching to the more generic approach.

Only the most common commands need representation as "universal"
commands. Things like cut, copy, paste, undo, redo, select-all, select-
none, etc... And media commands like play, pause, stop, record would be
nice, too. Interestingly, "record" could apply to recording audio or
video, as well as something like recording a macro in a text editor or
spreadsheet.

I think that the fact that every application has a different default
keymapping -- and the fact that some of them aren't even remappable --
is a major learning obstacle for many users. For example, CTRL+Z in the
newsreader application that I'm using right now maps to something
completely unrelated to "undo," and it gets me every time.

This could be accomplished as a third-party application, but it would be
much less effective. The application would only be able to offer a sort
of dynamic re-mapping. It could intercept keystrokes and convert them
based on a table, like so:

Key Sequence Application Remapped Sequence
--------------------------------------------------
CTRL+Z Word CTRL+Z
CTRL+Z Excel CTRL+Z
CTRL+Z XNews ALT+BACKSPACE
...

This would be cumbersome and would require the user to update the table
for every application. Having the concept of universal commands built
into the operating system would be much more elegant.

Thanks.

Which applications are different? When you have made your list, contact the
software authors and ask why their keystroke commands are not the same as
for MS Office..

 

[none]

No, it's not appropriate here, simply because there is nobody here to
do anything with your suggestion. You are not addressing Microsoft.

Any suggestion as to where it would be appropriate? Or does Microsoft
generally not take public suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[Pat]

Which applications are different? When you have made your list,
contact the software authors and ask why their keystroke commands are
not the same as for MS Office..

I'm not sure if this was intended as a joke or not. If it wasn't, then I'd
point out the obvious -- not everyone wants the keystrokes defined by
Mircosoft to be the standard.

I personally like to map "Paste" to:
CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+WINDOWSKEY+NUMLOCK+LEFT_CURLY_BRACE.

(For clarity, that was humor)

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

I'm not sure if this was intended as a joke or not. If it wasn't, then
I'd
point out the obvious -- not everyone wants the keystrokes defined by
Mircosoft to be the standard.

I personally like to map "Paste" to:
CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+WINDOWSKEY+NUMLOCK+LEFT_CURLY_BRACE.

(For clarity, that was humor)

Which keystrokes would you like? Would they be the same as I like?

 

[Manny Weisbord]

(If this is not an appropriate group for general Windows suggestions,
please point me elsewhere. If there is no such group, then may this
suggestion die a quick and painless, yet most honorable, death.)

The next sound you will hear will be a lone bugler playing Taps.

 

[Gordon]

The next sound you will hear will be a lone bugler playing Taps.

Not quite, then he'd hear "Last Post"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Post

 

[Pat]

Which keystrokes would you like? Would they be the same as I like?

What? No. Hence the need for this feature in Windows. It maps keys to
commands. You get to choose your keys.

 

[none]

Not quite, then he'd hear "Last Post"

It's a shame that there isn't a place for Windows suggestions, especially
with Microsoft facing the most real threat to their OS market share in many
years. Not only is their new competitor open to suggestions, but open
source, and targetted mainly at the enormous fraction of the market that
only wants to surf the web and read e-mail. Sounds to me like listening to
a user's suggestions here and there might be a good idea.

 

[Manny Weisbord]

It's a shame that there isn't a place for Windows suggestions, especially
with Microsoft facing the most real threat to their OS market share in many
years. Not only is their new competitor open to suggestions, but open
source, and targetted mainly at the enormous fraction of the market that
only wants to surf the web and read e-mail. Sounds to me like listening to
a user's suggestions here and there might be a good idea.

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