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1. Re: There really is no way to cycle through panels?
Jeffrey Tranberry Jun 15, 2010 8:51 AM (in response to PurplePlumUK)You can assign keyboard shortcuts to any of the panels in the window menu by going to Edit>Keyboard Shortcuts...
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2. Re: There really is no way to cycle through panels?
PurplePlumUK Jun 15, 2010 9:17 AM (in response to Jeffrey Tranberry)Hi.. thanks for taking the time. It's interesting this "the solution is always assign another keyboard shortcut" and I do (assign shortcuts).
Finding a key combination which is not already utilised can be a challenge...
Remembering them all is a greater challenge...
Finding one's which one can use in other applications in the Suite (to help alieviate the memory issue) is a challenge
If one only has one.. or two... extra keyboard shortcuts.. no probs... but there is a threshold and I think it's lower than you imagine.
I kinda don't understand why Adobe haven't introduced what would be an extremely powerful feature an age ago if I'm honest. That is:
the ability to cycle through open panels using one keyboard command followed by tab through the elements/inputs in that panel once in focus. With two keyboard commands pretty much everything would become accessible...the ability to customise would not go away. However hitting say cmd tab repeatedly is a lot quicker than trying to remember which convoluted keyboard commend one came up with a week ago....
If it was implemented across the suite too... what an awesome feature it would be. I suspect it is a big ask as obviously the opportunity was missed when Adobe first acquired the Macromedia stuff nd surely someone considered it then. The integration of the suite seems to me one big marketing opportunity new or single product users might be influenced by... eh?
Ah well... maybe one day. It's the one wish I'd ask for. As I said, thanks for taking the time.
I wanted to be sure the answer was NO. :-)
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3. Re: There really is no way to cycle through panels?
Jeffrey Tranberry Jun 15, 2010 9:26 AM (in response to PurplePlumUK)I think the problem with what you propose is there isn't a clear target for revealing and for changing the focus. Which panel do you reveal next? Revealing a panel doesn't really put focus on any of it's edit fields, and no panel is 'more' selected than another (except maybe the tool options bar which responds to the [enter] to activate the first edit field). How would you activate the controls on a specific panel with this being the case? It seems like it would take massive amounts of key strokes to cycle through to reveal the panel you wanted - and even then you wouldn't be able to put the focus on an edit field. I think it's a bigger problem than just assigning a key to cycle through panels to truly make it useful.
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4. Re: There really is no way to cycle through panels?
charles badland Jun 15, 2010 9:40 AM (in response to PurplePlumUK)BluePlumUK wrote:
Hi
I'm just checking that I've got this absolutely right... there is no keyboard command to cycle through (shift the focus) from one open panel to the next to the next to the next? All the panels listed in the Window menu. I don't know why I'm convinced there ever was...
Maybe I'm misunderstanding... doesn't control+tab do this?
OK. PANELS. I still think of them as Palettes...
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5. Re: There really is no way to cycle through panels?
PurplePlumUK Jun 15, 2010 11:49 AM (in response to Jeffrey Tranberry)Well I am not an app developer. I had however, assumed "it's more complicated than it appears" because there'll be a reason why it's not been done and that's usually the reason.....
'The target' could be the 'last known site (panel) of activity' which could be captured? Or, failing that, the first panel in the window menu. The next target would be the next panel in the window menu. A test: If onscreen then, else move-on (to next panel in the window menu) could cut down the number of keystrokes required.
I suppose a lot of users may well work with all the tabs (that's 22 in PhotoShop) on screen. 22 keystrokes is daft, agreed. (I happen to think having 22 tabs on screen is visual overload and a daft way to work, but each to their own). I've got 8 panel tabs on screen with 3 revealed which is the usual set up for me. So 8 keystrokes maximum (assuming it's always the last one I want). "Highlight site of last activity first" I think could be a good idea.
And... if there is a particular panel in the eight I want to prioritise then I could specify 1 keyboard shortcut for it, rather than being faced with the 8 I'd require to get anywhere near the same functionality as things stand.
"Revealing a panel doesn't really put focus on it's edit fields"... it could?
It is an interesting challenge I can see that. Have a good un.
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6. Re: There really is no way to cycle through panels?
Jeffrey Tranberry Jun 15, 2010 12:06 PM (in response to PurplePlumUK)Thanks. Yes, anything is possible. There are other problems with the solutions you suggest. Automatically putting focus on a non-modal panel is, in general, a very bad thing for most users (would require a mouse click somewhere else and/or superfluous return or esc key presses each time a panel is touched). It would be very messy to manage that from a user perspective as it goes against some common conventions.
We used to assign f-keys to the most common panels, which was a pretty good solution, but the OSes have pretty much co-opted all the f-keys for the OS.
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7. Re: There really is no way to cycle through panels?
PurplePlumUK Jun 15, 2010 1:04 PM (in response to Jeffrey Tranberry)Hi. Thanks for your interest Jeffrey. I won't take up any more of your time with this because I think you're understanding where I'm coming from and I can see enough of the difficulties involved to conclude I need to develop some sort of user strategy whatever that might be.
You've lost me with the 'non-modal' panel anyway... I beleive it means panels like the Layers panel. As a user I cannot see the technical barriers, only the functional theory,.. if you follow. Not knowing how many of the panels are 'modal', my feeling would be to manage them (ie: list them separately in the menu) as ones which, yes, have a keyboard shortcut... not knowing which are non-modal I'm entirely in the dark suggesting this. If it's 20 out of the 22 in PhotoShop then.. well... bummer.
I'm a great champion of keyboard shortcuts - have been for a long time. When apps were simpler, then a new keyboard shortcut was generally the solution... not now. I can't I'm afraid agree to take issue though with the OS's or identify them as exasperating the problem... given the number of keys which apps have first call on relative to the number of function keys. As software grows in complexity and users all want their personal customised version, a sensible approach to keyboard input is becoming an acute issue (not just for you guys, but all apps developers IMHO). I don't know what the solution is other than to make individual keyboard shortcuts work harder by some innovation.... wish I could come with the 'some innovation' cos it'd help us all out eh :-).
All the best.



