[PD] Mac OS X, ALT-Shortcuts, dollarsign on Finnish keyboards?

[martin pichlmair]

hi,

> My impression is that the naming is different. The Windows Alt is
> apparently equivalent to the MacOS Command, whereas the Windows AltGr  
> is
> the equivalent of the MacOS Alt.

the apple-correct ways of handling keys can be found in the human  
interface guidelines:

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/ 
OSXHIGuidelines/XHIGUserInput/chapter_2_section_3.html#//apple_ref/doc/ 
uid/TP30000361/TP22

--------------------------- >8 ----------------
Option (=alt)
When used with other keys, the Option key produces special symbols. The  
Option key can also be used with the mouse to modify the effect of a  
click or drag. For example, in some applications pressing Option while  
dragging an object makes a copy of the object.

Command
Pressing the Command key at the same time as a character key tells the  
application to interpret the key as a command rather than a character.  
It can also be used with the mouse to modify the effect of a click or  
drag. Key combinations that use the Command key are described in  
“Keyboard Shortcuts”.

Control
The Control key is used to modify the functions of other keys. Combined  
with a mouse click, it displays contextual menus (see “Contextual  
Menus”).
--------------------------- >8 ----------------

so obviously pd should use _only_ the command key on osx for all the  
stuff that is in the menus - like creating new objects, windows and the  
like.

alt can be used for everything that has to do with dragging ...  
ctrl-clicking is handled quite right but maybe using alt instead of  
control to trigger messages in the edit view might work good (but that  
is working quite good as it is).

>> If this is true, it's probably best to stop using "alt" accelerators,
>> at least on Mac and Windows, although perhaps they could stay as they
>> are on linux.
>
> I'd rather have Alt mean the same as in Windows/KDE/GNOME. Not so much  
> by
> consistency with popular systems, than because I'm sure a lot of Pd  
> users
> would looove more keyboard shortcuts in general.

a possible way would be to use ctrl (or alt or ctrl+shift) on win+linux  
and cmd (or cmd+shift) on the mac. as i am working on linux and mac i  
am already used to press cmd instead of ctrl for a lot of tasks. i'm  
surely not the only one. just having _one_ accelerator should be the  
goal.

> But I think I'd rather have user-definable accelerators and such. (It's
> been on my TODO list for too long).

reasonable defaults are the basics of every good interface. users can  
change it anyway in an open source project but most will not do so.  
and: if it is done well we can spare the user to _have to_ do it.

lg
martin