[Prime] Suggestion for a few easy to implement usability enhancements

[matthiaspaul]

(09-08-2015 02:11 AM)eried Wrote:  

(09-07-2015 11:04 PM)matthiaspaul Wrote:  - The "Shift" and "Alpha" keys already have some kind of toggle behaviour. This could be extended to a number of other keys as well:

-- Pressing "Home" invokes the "Home" screen.
-- Double-pressing "Home" should invoke "Home settings" (exactly like "Shift"+"Home", but with less finger or mouse travel)
-- While in "Home settings", pressing "Home" again closes the "Home settings" menu (like "ESC").

-- Pressing "CAS" invokes the "CAS" screen.
-- Double-pressing "CAS" should invoke "CAS settings" (exactly like "Shift"+"CAS", but with less finger or mouse travel)
-- While in "CAS settings", pressing "CAS" again closes the "CAS settings" menu (like "ESC").

-- Double-pressing "Apps" should invoke "Info". Pressing it again should switch to the "Apps" view again.

-- Double-pressing "Esc" should invoke "Clear" (perhaps with a pop-up "Are you sure?")

-- Double-pressing "Symb" should invoke "Symb Setup".

- Double-pressing "Plot" should invoke "Plot Setup".

- Double-pressing "Num" should invoke "Num Setup".

- Not sure if double-pressing "Help" and "View" keys should invoke there shifted functions, but otherwise double-pressing them could just close their views again (like "Esc").

Same with those, how about if double tapping space bar in your pc added a break line... it would drive users to madness. There is no double press for keyboards for a reason

Hm, a keyboard for a PC and for a calculator are rather different applications. In fact, this is really operating system and application specific - I am aware of applications where keys opening some menus do in fact work as toggles, that is, they will close the menu again when the key is pressed again.

Your example of adding a line break or something similar on a double-keypress describes a different situation.
If you go through the list of keys for which I suggested this behaviour, there is only one ("Clear"), which directly invokes a function. In all other cases, it is just a matter of closing a menu just opened by the first press, or opening another menu or application instead - nothing that could cause any harm.

"Clear" would be an exception, but this would be in analogy with a lot of other calculators, which have a similar double function on their "Clear enter" key. It might be convenient, but I see that it could cause harm as well, if pressed accidently. Perhaps this should be bound on some user-configurable flag just to play it safe. Such a safety net wouldn't be necessary for the other keys, though.

Greetings,

Matthias