Version: 1.6.2 (using KDE 3.2.3, (testing/unstable)) Compiler: gcc version 3.3.3 (Debian 20040422) OS: Linux (i686) release 2.6.7-1-386 Currently, the up and down keys scroll the message, and the right and left keys select the displayed messages, regardless of the panel which has focus. This is very comfortable if you know about it. However, this is not intuitive. There are a lot of bug reports on this (24355, 42543, 21256, 41681, 33994, 34375, 67459, 17240), and I (and probably many others) was about to send one before I saw these bug reports, so I learned that I should use right+left. User interface should be intuitive and consistent. Users go to the help when they don't know how to do something, not when the user interface doesn't function the way the expect it to. I agree that the current key binding are very nice if you know them, but I think most users will never learn about them, and stay annoyed. What should be done is this: add an *option* to set this binding. This way, normal users will get the expected, even if not the most comfortable, key binding. Advanced users will go over the settings window looking for things which could make their life easier, find this, and say, "Wow! Cool!". I posted this as a comment to bug 67459, but got no replies. I thought that maybe if I post a new bug it will be noticed. Really - I'm certain that the current situation leaves most users simply annoyed by kmail. Why should it be that way? Thanks, Noam Raphael
Am Freitag, 14. Januar 2005 10:24 schrieb Noam Raphael: > I agree that the current key binding are very nice if you know them, but > I think most users will never learn about them, and stay annoyed. What > should be done is this: add an *option* to set this binding. This way, > normal users will get the expected, even if not the most comfortable, key > binding. Advanced users will go over the settings window looking for > things which could make their life easier, find this, and say, "Wow! > Cool!". > > I posted this as a comment to bug 67459, but got no replies. I thought > that maybe if I post a new bug it will be noticed. > > Really - I'm certain that the current situation leaves most users simply > annoyed by kmail. Why should it be that way? Well, it's that way because the capacity of the active KMail developers is limited. Current work concentrates on IMAP and workgroup features. Additionally, IMO key bindings are on low priority for the developers, because they know about the comfort with the current bindings and like it. If someone sends a patch which allows different keyboard schemes, I'm sure it will get attention and finally included into the KMail sources. Another try might be going to http://www.kontact.org/shopping/ - however I believe this is more intersting for companies than individuals.
Right. However, before someone makes this change (which I assume is a very minor one), shouldn't this be recognised as something which ought to change?
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 96301 ***