107666 - Need a function key for showing and hiding the quick search bar...

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(SeaMonkey :: MailNews: Message Display, enhancement)

Description

[Scott MacGregor]

I just moved to the trunk for my daily release builds from 6.2. So this was my
first chance to see the quick search bar in action. Very cool.

I'd like a function key for showing and hiding the quick search bar. I
frequently keep the sidebar hidden except when I need it. Then I hit F9, out it
comes, I can use it then F9 and it goes away again.

I'd like that same ease of use for the quick search bar. i.e. hitting F8 or
something else shows it, I can do my search then hit F8 again and have it hide. 

cc'ng jglick as well.

Comment 1

[jglick]

F8 seems to be available. Aaron, ok with you if we take F8 for this?

http://www.mozilla.org/projects/ui/accessibility/mozkeyplan.html

Comment 2

[Aaron Leventhal]

Okay by me. Otherwise, being able to show/hide it via menu commands is good
enough for me. Then it's just two keystrokes away. Since you won't necesssarily
want to show/hide that often vs. use it, I suggest that a key to use it quickly
is a little more important.

For example, when it is visible, I suggest that one of t he letters be
underlined, indicating that Alt + that lettter will focus on the control.
Perhaps when it's not visible, that will make it temporarily visible until the
search is completed.

Comment 3

[timeless]

interesting, i'm not sure i like it though.

Comment 4

[timeless]

On second thought, i'd prefer having View>Show/Hide>&Quick Search

Comment 5

[jglick]

We currently have, View-->Show/Hide-->Search Bar

F8 for function key.
Underline "u" in "Subject" for Accelerator.

Comment 6

[laurel]

See also bug 111031 for quick search mnemonics (conflicting info as to what
letter should be used), bug 110177 for tab access/order.

Comment 7

[Sean Su]

reassigning to myself to get some brownie points from m3scott :)

jglick, aaronl: do we want the F8 access key to show next to the
View-->Show/Hide-->Search Bar menu item?  (the other menu items in the same
submenu do not have such access keys.)

Comment 8

[jglick]

>do we want the F8 access key to show next to the
>View-->Show/Hide-->Search Bar menu item? 

Yes, just like the "F9" for View: Sidebar does. 

Comment 9

[Aaron Leventhal]

Stay away from function keys - they're bad. F9 for the sidebar was a mistake in
the first place. The problem is on Macintosh - they expect function keys to be
reserved for the user.

Use a Accel+letter key if possible. There should still be some available in
mailnews that aren't available in browser.

Or, use Accel+shift+F  - we tend to use related things for shifted accel keys,
and since Ctrl+F means find, why not use that?

Comment 10

[Scott MacGregor]

wow, that's really unfortunate news Aaron =(. F9 is my favorite keyboard
accelarator. Actually it's the only one I ever use. I guess I use the mouse for
everything else. I use it because it's just one key click to show and hide the
sidebar. I wanted one key click to show and hide the search bar too. 

using multiple keys like accel + shift + F loses the convience factor of the key
for me anyway. 

shucks. shame on the mac 

Comment 11

[Sean Su]

let me know what the final verdict is on what the shortcut key combination
should be and I'll attach a patch.

Comment 12

[jglick]

Is the feature still desired?

Comment 13

[Scott MacGregor]

turns out we use several function keys in the browser. I just looked in the
browser and we use at least the following already.
F6 shift focus
F9 -- show/hide sidebar
F11 --> toggle between full screen mode

so there is precedence out there. Not saying it is right but we do use them. 

Comment 14

[Aaron Leventhal]

Actually we back [shift]+F6 up with an alternative - Ctrl+[shift]+tab. We only
support F6 because it's a Windows standard keystroke.

As far as F11 goes, that decision was made after much controversy. I thought we
had an alternative for that.

I don't mind using F8, as long as there's an alternative. I believe the way Mac
works is that if the user defines the function key, Mozilla won't see it. So as
long as it's not an essential shortcut, it's probably okay. I would defer to Mac
people on this. You can check with Marlon, Kathy Brade or mpt.

Comment 15

[Matthew T (active 1999-2002)]

Attachment: Screenshot of what happens when you press F8 anywhere

This is what happens when I type F8 (or F9) from any app. I have set up F1, F2,
and F3 to launch particular programs. I haven't set F8 to anything yet, but
probably I will eventually. Being able to launch apps with a single key-press,
no matter which app has focus, is very very handy. Don't pour shame on it. Lust
after it.

Now, as for a shortcut for the Search Bar, I really don't see the point. Hiding
the Search Bar wouldn't free as much screen real estate as hiding the Toolbar,
and we don't have a shortcut for that. And I think it would be considerably
less common than showing or hiding the Sidebar, and (ahem) we don't have a
working shortcut for that either.

Comment 16

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

Rather than a keystroke to hide this, how about one of those little collapser 
widgets like thsoe at the far-left of the menu- and tool-bars?

Comment 17

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to comment #16)
> Rather than a keystroke to hide this, how about one of those little collapser 
> widgets like thsoe at the far-left of the menu- and tool-bars?

this seems more reasonable than assigning yet another key, but does add yet more
crud to the screen. (OTOH, based on lack of activity, votes, etc the bug doesn't
seem to be popular)

Also, "access" keyword doesn't seem valid.

in any event, changing sev->enh 

Comment 18

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

wontfix?

or does anyone still have an interest?

Comment 19

[Philip Chee]

Quicksearch widget is now a customizable toolbaritem, also F8 is now taken and Function/Accelerator keys are in short supply in general. =>WONTFIX.