Backspace key behaviour

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hotdog
Posts: 10
Joined: 22 Jan 2006, 14:58
Location: Greece

Backspace key behaviour

Post by hotdog »

There is a problem IMO with the backspace key which sometimes drives me crazy!

Let's say you're browsing c:\windows and you press 'T','E' to focus the "temp" directory. If you want to browse back to the parent folder (c:\) you can do it by pressing:
- <alt>+<left arrow>
- <esc>+<backspace> . Note: The <esc> key cancels the browse mode triggered with the letter keys and after that backspace takes you to the parent folder.

Can you implement a method that will open the parent folder only by pressing (one or several times if needed) the backspace key?

ps: looking forward for ss 2.5 final! :D

thanks in advance,
Christos Michalislis
cincura.net
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Re: Backspace key behaviour

Post by cincura.net »

hotdog wrote:Can you implement a method that will open the parent folder only by pressing (one or several times if needed) the backspace key?
Hi,

there's a Keyboard page in Configuration dialog. Now it's blank (only description), so I think, that in next versions you'll be able to define the custom keyboard shortcuts for the action of your choice.
Jiri {x2} Cincura
grymmjack
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Joined: 07 Jan 2006, 14:53
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Re: Backspace key behaviour

Post by grymmjack »

hotdog wrote:There is a problem IMO with the backspace key which sometimes drives me crazy!

Let's say you're browsing c:\windows and you press 'T','E' to focus the "temp" directory. If you want to browse back to the parent folder (c:\) you can do it by pressing:
- <alt>+<left arrow>
- <esc>+<backspace> . Note: The <esc> key cancels the browse mode triggered with the letter keys and after that backspace takes you to the parent folder.

Can you implement a method that will open the parent folder only by pressing (one or several times if needed) the backspace key?

ps: looking forward for ss 2.5 final! :D

thanks in advance,
Christos Michalislis
What happens though if you want to backspace to get rid of the first few letters, say in your example you typed "t" "e" "m" looking for temp, didn't find it but realized you called it "tzot" or something (for unknown stupid hypothetical reason :), hitting backspace then it finds "t" "e", again backspace = "t", which you can then hit up/down arrow to jump from found item to found item. I personally like how it works, but I can see how it could be frustrating. If you hit ESC though it cancels that mode. So is ESC, then backspace that frustrating?

How would you recommend it work? It would be impossible to keep the current functionality (which I am sure alot of people find acceptable) unless timing was used and BACKSPACEx2 within like 100ms or something like a double keyboard whack?

I didn't know about ALT+Left when in quick-find mode (thanks).
hotdog
Posts: 10
Joined: 22 Jan 2006, 14:58
Location: Greece

Post by hotdog »

Let me clarify this issue...

The current functionality of the backspace key is nearly perfect (as everything else in SS!)

Please follow this example and tell me if I'm wrong:
- Open Drive C: (or where the OS is located)
- Use the arrows and open \WINDOWS
- Press 'T' and 'E' to focus the \WINDOWS\TEMP directory. For any reason you don't want to enter the \TEMP directory and instead you wish to return to the root folder.
- Press <backspace> two times. Now you can use the <home> key to go to the top level shortcut and press <enter> to return to \WINDOWS. This is a rather complicated approach, isn't it?

Now consider if you pressed <backspace> three times and returned to the top directory wouldn't that be magic? A single key delivers full functionality!

Another minor (but related) issue is this:
Let's say you want to check the size of the \TEMP directory.
Press 'T' and 'E' to focus the \TEMP folder.
Try to press <SPACE> to check the folder's size... Nothing happens!

what do you think fellas?
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KNUT
Posts: 286
Joined: 12 Dec 2005, 09:57
Location: Hamburg, Germany

Post by KNUT »

hotdog wrote:[...]Now consider if you pressed <backspace> three times and returned to the top directory wouldn't that be magic? A single key delivers full functionality!
Yep - you're right. This would be very nice!
hotdog wrote:Let's say you want to check the size of the \TEMP directory.
Press 'T' and 'E' to focus the \TEMP folder.
Try to press <SPACE> to check the folder's size... Nothing happens!
That's the correct behaviour - I think - because you're in the quick search mode!
Therefore you've to stop search (press ESC) and then SPACE calculates the fodler size.
Kind regards, KNUT
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grymmjack
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Joined: 07 Jan 2006, 14:53
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Post by grymmjack »

hotdog wrote: Now consider if you pressed <backspace> three times and returned to the top directory wouldn't that be magic? A single key delivers full functionality!
Ahh I see what you mean now. Yes I think it should automatically leave find mode if you press BACKSPACE when there is nothing to delete from the find. Agreed.
hotdog wrote: Another minor (but related) issue is this:
Let's say you want to check the size of the \TEMP directory.
Press 'T' and 'E' to focus the \TEMP folder.
Try to press <SPACE> to check the folder's size... Nothing happens!
Well you are in find mode at that point, and filenames CAN contain spaces, so this is just not going to be possible to easily change I think. ALT-F10 will calculate used space (but shows a dialog)...

Perhaps SHIFT+SPACEBAR to override?
thomas_s
Posts: 18
Joined: 28 Jan 2006, 08:41

Post by thomas_s »

To be honest, I like the current behaviour (ESC+Backspace). The only idea I have would be to disable the quick-search-mode after "Backspacing" the first entered character:

E.g. You typed 't' 'e', it searches for "te". After pressing Backspace one time, it still searches for "t" (like now). Pressing Backspace one more time, it stops the quick-search (RFE; at the moment it's still in quick-search-mode). When continueing to type characters, quick-search-mode will be activated again (like now).

Tom
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jis
Posts: 451
Joined: 27 Jan 2006, 23:14
Location: Prague, Czech Republic

Post by jis »

hotdog wrote:Let me clarify this issue...

The current functionality of the backspace key is nearly perfect (as everything else in SS!)

Please follow this example and tell me if I'm wrong:
- Open Drive C: (or where the OS is located)
- Use the arrows and open \WINDOWS
- Press 'T' and 'E' to focus the \WINDOWS\TEMP directory. For any reason you don't want to enter the \TEMP directory and instead you wish to return to the root folder.
- Press <backspace> two times. Now you can use the <home> key to go to the top level shortcut and press <enter> to return to \WINDOWS. This is a rather complicated approach, isn't it?

Now consider if you pressed <backspace> three times and returned to the top directory wouldn't that be magic? A single key delivers full functionality!
Why you just didn't use built in shortcuts for returning to the root folder?
  • Ctrl+Backspace
    Shift+Backspace
    Ctrl+\
Tylla
Posts: 4
Joined: 26 Apr 2006, 09:20

Post by Tylla »

I think that it should be an option to choose the behaviour of the backspace key and the Quick Search feature alltogether.

I am used to the "press a key to enter quick-search mode" behaviour (under MC this is the only way), but I really like the "you can write right away and quick-search is enabled by default" mode too.
Each one has its advantages and its drawbacks, so I think that no one should be left alone with his routines.

The default should be the old behaviour, but the user should choose if he wants the other way around.

That was my 2 cent. :)

Bye
Tylla
hotdog
Posts: 10
Joined: 22 Jan 2006, 14:58
Location: Greece

Post by hotdog »

grymmjack wrote: Yes I think it should automatically leave find mode if you press BACKSPACE when there is nothing to delete from the find.
This is the best solution which btw will not affect current functionality, but I don't know if it is painless to implement. :wink:
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zarevak
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Please do not change the current behaviour

Post by zarevak »

Hi,
I like the way it's implemented now. I'm using "you can write right away and quick-search is enabled by default" and it suits me very well.

Problem is that QuickSearch in SS doesn't show what you have written so the surest way to remove all characters already typed and look for another name is to whack the [Backspace] key many times. This applies especialy when using the backslash ( \ ) character.
If you are asking, how can I forget what I type? It's realy simple - imagine this set of folders:

Code: Select all

3DStudioMax
DOSBox-0.58
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Virtual PC
Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003
Microsoft Visual Studio 8
Microsoft.NET
Visual Math Studio
VisualRoute
If I want to select Microsoft Visual Studio 8, the fastest and safest way is to type something like: "\vis\stu\8" - how many characters are in this string? = how many times do I need to press [Backspace]? ;)
hotdog
Posts: 10
Joined: 22 Jan 2006, 14:58
Location: Greece

Post by hotdog »

Agreed zarevak,

I see your point. Nevertheless, I still believe the <backspace> behaviour is more or less about the "taste" it leaves in each one of us.

The locate tip you provided with the backslash key is quite ambiguous IMO (although it's very straight and productive) because it doesn't feedback to the user what he has entered. Maybe some kind of filtering or coloring should be applied, or -why not?- making invisible the filtered-out folders.

regards
Chris
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