1771046 - Implement Ctrl+S to save contact from edit mode

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Thunderbird :: Address Book, enhancement)

Description

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

STR

I don't think we could ever use Ctrl+S for anything else in contact edit mode, so we could just as well let it do something useful for those who don't warm up with just pressing Enter anywhere on the contact to trigger Save default button. Ctrl+S is pretty universal, intuitive, and easy to remember (also for the blind, for whom trusting a random Enter may be harder).

• Edit a contact in new AB
• Press Ctrl+S with intention of saving the contact

Actual

• Nothing

Expected:

• Save contact and return to view mode
• Set focus to the contact in the list, as we currently do (and implement bug 1752013)

Aleca, does that sound good to you?

Comment 1

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

I'm not sure I agree with this proposed workflow.

EDIT: I strongly disagree with the proposed workflow.

The contact edit view is a form, and the form should be submitted to trigger the data save.
What you're proposing will change its perception and very own nature from a page form to a something else, like a message.

Ctrl+S is pretty universal, intuitive, and easy to remember (also for the blind, for whom trusting a random Enter may be harder).

That's incorrect.
Blind users will be guided by assistive technology that properly recognize the section as a form, and instruct the users to trigger the proper standard and expected actions.
Adding CTRL+S it's just foreign and undiscoverable.

This is INVALID to me.

Comment 2

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

(In reply to Alessandro Castellani [:aleca] from comment #1)

I'm not sure I agree with this proposed workflow.

EDIT: I strongly disagree with the proposed workflow.

That's amazing, because we wouldn't force this "workflow" on anyone, we would just allow it for those who prefer this way.

The contact edit view is a form, and the form should be submitted to trigger the data save.

That sounds like an implementation-level argument. I don't know about screen readers, but the average user will have no idea if it's a form or something else. It's just an item which I want to save, there's a Save button, and the obvious shortcut that springs to mind for saving is Ctrl+S.
I can tell you that with all my years of computer experience, I sometimes hesitate to press Enter in the middle of this large form. I also wonder how pressing Enter will work on form fields like Notes field which may allow line breaks as field content.

What you're proposing will change its perception and very own nature from a page form to a something else, like a message.

Not sure if we need to force the technical perception of a form onto the user, and I don't think it's much about perception. It's about allowing alternative workflows of least resistance.

Ctrl+S is pretty universal, intuitive, and easy to remember (also for the blind, for whom trusting a random Enter may be harder).

That's incorrect.
Blind users will be guided by assistive technology that properly recognize the section as a form, and instruct the users to trigger the proper standard and expected actions.

Good point. Surprisingly, it was a representative of the blind who actually pointed this out, looking for something memorable like Alt+S as an access key for Save (which imo we should not do, but we could easily have Ctrl+S instead). To be fair, that was in the absence of Enter which I personally pushed for (and obviously I am not asking to remove that).

In reply to Valentin Villenave from Bug 1738281 Comment 0:

I couldn’t find a mnemonic such as Alt-S.

Adding CTRL+S it's just foreign and undiscoverable.

I'm failing to see the foreign part of Ctrl+S to Save something.
Discovery may be less important as these shortcuts are universally known - we also don't offer a way of discovering Enter to press the default button, users actually have to know that from experience.

This is INVALID to me.

I'm not sure how this RFE could be invalid given that we actually have the same workflow (Ctrl+S to Save) for calendar's Edit event dialog, which does look much like a form to me...

Anyway, we've tried, and it's not very important as so far, we have Enter to press the "edit form's" default button, which is a very good and efficient keyboard shortcut (until the Notes field may prove us wrong, probably requiring Ctrl+Enter in there, so then I'll have to remember that, too).

WONTFIX per Aleca's comment 1.