Macro application for Gnome

[Ken Starks <helios fixedbylinux com>]

Hello all.  I joined this list in order to receive feedback and hope to generate a conversation about a much-needed feature in Linux and specifically Gnome.  

I am the founding director of The HeliOS Project.  We accept broken or decommissioned computers, refurbish them and then give them to kids who's family cannot afford a computer.  You can see a bit about what we do at http://www.heliosinitiative.org.

We deal with many people with disabilities as well and some of the most prominent disabilities are muscular or coordination-limited people.  If you notice the URL I gave you as an example, it is a fairly long URL and many people we encounter would have problems in typing it.  As loathe as I am to mention it, in the Windows world, there is a freeware app called shortkeys lite.  Simply put, it is a macro app that can be set to type a line of text by calling on a system key plus the hook key.  When I set the program up for instance, the alt key pressed in conjunction with any chosen letter or number key, my url would automatically appear.  Of course, it can be set to do any number of macros.

I realize my lack of dev skills blind me to the complexity of writing such a program but as a long-time Linux advocate, I have spent enough time in the field to know that this would be an important and appreciated addition to the Gnome or Linux user.

I appreciate your time and your hard work.

"A child's exposure to technology should never be predicated on the ability to afford it."