Re: [HCI] Focus navigation with arrow keys

[Owen Taylor <otaylor redhat com>]

Tim Janik <timj gtk org> writes:

> On 9 Mar 2001, Owen Taylor wrote:
> 
> > 
> > Tim Janik <timj gtk org> writes:
> > 
> > > On Thu, 8 Mar 2001, Federico Mena Quintero wrote:
> > > 
> > > > Owen Taylor <otaylor redhat com> writes:
> > > > 
> > > > > A rather unusual feature that GTK+ has had for a long time
> > > > > is the ability to move the keyboard focus not just with
> > > > > Tab/<Shift>-Tab, but also with the arrow keys.
> > > > 
> > > > Ditch 'em!  They are more trouble than they are worth.
> > > 
> > > what?
> > > 
> > > heck, ever moved around in a dialog like this:
> > > 
> > > +---------------+ +---------------+
> > > |               | |               |
> > > | label |entry| | | label |entry| |
> > > |               | |               |
> > > | label |entry| | | label |entry| |
> > > |               | |               |
> > > +---------------+ +---------------+
> > > 
> > > ?
> > 
> > Hmmm, if I'm in the upper left entry, I can't move to
> > the upper right entry by hitting <Right>, because <Right>
> > moves the cursor.
> > 
> > So, how does having the directional navigation help here?
> 
> yeah well, buttons are a way better example ;)

I find, when trying to use the arrow key navigation that my
thought processes run exactly like the above.

 - why isn't focusing working?
 
 - it's broken!

 - Oh, it's an entry. 

For me at least, it's confusing and frustrating when the focus
gets trapped in an entry if I'm trying to navigate with the
arrow keys, so I don't use them.

(The windows solution here, as Hans Breuer pointed out a while
ago is that arrow keys navigate only navigate within a restricted
set of widgets where arrow keys don't do anything else and
won't take you out of that group.)

Regards,
                                        Owen