The new compose window already bring some great usability and accessibility improvements to the whole writing experience, but there are some areas that need improvements. Bug 1616514, highlights the necessity for some users to make the extra addressing fields easier to reach, activate, and interact with without the necessity of using a mouse. I think we can find an easily discoverable and elegant solution to boost the keyboard usability of the whole area, and mitigate user frustrations without adding extra prefs. **CTRL+ALT+"key" for the main fields** The `CTRL+ALT` combination seems agnostic enough to not interfere with any prexisting or OS specific shortcuts. It also feels kind of like a natural progression of our implemented paradigms, as we have `CTRL+key` for actions like save and send, and `ALT+key` for the access keys in the menu items. Here's a possible mapping proposal: - `CTRL+ALT+I`: Focus on the **From** field. - `CTRL+ALT+T`: Move cursor on the **To** field. - `CTRL+ALT+C`: Move cursor on the **Cc** field, and open it if closed. - `CTRL+ALT+B`: Move cursor on the **Bcc** field, and open it if closed. - `CTRL+ALT+R`: Move cursor on the **Reply To** field, and open it if closed. - `CTRL+ALT+E`: Open the extra recipients popup panel and focus on the first item. - `CTRL+ALT+S`: Move cursor on the **Subject** field. - `CTRL+ALT+M`: Move cursor on the Message Body. These shortcuts can be added as tooltips to each of the clickable elements we have in the dialog, making them easily discoverable after a few uses. Thoughts?
Bug 1683223 Comment 0 Edit History
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The new compose window already brings some great usability and accessibility improvements to the whole writing experience, but there are some areas that need more improvements. Bug 1616514, highlights the necessity for some users to make the extra addressing fields easier to reach, activate, and interact with without the necessity of using a mouse. I think we can find an easily discoverable and elegant solution to boost the keyboard usability of the whole area, and mitigate user's frustration without adding extra prefs. **CTRL+ALT+"key" for the main fields** The `CTRL+ALT` combination seems agnostic enough to not interfere with any preexisting or OS specific shortcuts. It also feels kind of like a natural progression of our implemented paradigms, as we have `CTRL+key` for actions like save and send, and `ALT+key` for the access keys in the menu items. Here's a possible mapping proposal: - `CTRL+ALT+I`: Focus on the **From** field. - `CTRL+ALT+T`: Move cursor on the **To** field. - `CTRL+ALT+C`: Move cursor on the **Cc** field, and open it if closed. - `CTRL+ALT+B`: Move cursor on the **Bcc** field, and open it if closed. - `CTRL+ALT+R`: Move cursor on the **Reply To** field, and open it if closed. - `CTRL+ALT+E`: Open the extra recipients popup panel and focus on the first item. - `CTRL+ALT+S`: Move cursor on the **Subject** field. - `CTRL+ALT+M`: Move cursor on the Message Body. These shortcuts can be added as tooltips to each of the clickable elements we have in the dialog, making them easily discoverable after a few uses. Thoughts?