114974 - better keybinding for tab swaping

Status: VERIFIED WONTFIX

(Core :: DOM: UI Events & Focus Handling, defect)

Description

[Jeremy M. Dolan]

As ctrl+tab has been decreed to switch between panes, and there is much unrest
regarding ctrl+pgup/down to switch tabs, this bug is to switch to a better key
bind for tabs.

The arguments why ctrl+pgup/down suck have been repeated ad nauseam in bug
103796, and summarized in my bug 114725, which was WONTFIXed, since ctrl+tab for
panes is an accessibility issue. Fine. Panes can have it.

Tabs do need a left hand only keybind, however, as they are used by many people
in conjuction with the mouse.

My suggestion is mod+1/2/3/4/etc, where mod is differant from the one used in
tasks (which should eventually go away, but that's another story). The is a
somewhat common keybind in UNIX apps to switch between differant viewable
regions in apps, so it's worked in the past for this purpose.

Comment 1

[Aaron Leventhal]

As keyboard component owner, my answer is that you will need to wait for
keyboard configurability or use the Ctrl+PgUp/Dn. 

What you need to understand is, there will always be disagreements of personal
taste wrt keyboard shortcuts. No one will ever be 100% satisfied by the default
keystrokes.

If you want to code mod+1/2/3/4 or keyboard configurability, go ahead. However,
you better realize that are almost no keystrokes left. Every time someone wants
an alternative set of keystrokes we have that much less keyboard real estate for
future functionality. I really recommend against it.

Marking WONTFIX.

Comment 2

[Jeremy M. Dolan]

The problem is ctrl+pgup/down is particularly poor. Tabs are a feature for mouse
users, and as such, the current key combo is absolutely useless.

Comment 3

[sairuh (rarely reading bugmail)]

v

Comment 4

[Illtud Daniel]

Hi, CTRL+PGUP/PGDOWN is **** for tab switching, since it means taking
the left hand off the mouse, should you be using one. I realise that
this one's been marked WONTFIX, but I think you'll just get people
bugging you until it's done right. Aaron's comment:

> What you need to understand is, there will always be
> disagreements of personal taste wrt keyboard shortcuts.
> No one will ever be 100% satisfied by the default keystrokes.

Very true, but my gripe with this bug (and some others) is
that *no* thought seems to be going into the default keystrokes.
Left hand only keystrokes for something as often used as
switching panes (tabs or windows) is *broken* pure & simple.
What's wrong with changing it to CTRL&` (assuming that ` is
above TAB on all keyboards - all the ones I've seen have it
there). There's no excuse for broken default keybindings.

Comment 5

[Jeremy M. Dolan]

*** Bug 129331 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 6

[timeless]

*** Bug 146121 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***