http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/2367 - 2.1.0 GUI

[Steven Brown]

Hi Matt,

Matt Geske wrote:
<snip>
> I think the font buttons are fine in the new condensed form, but I do 
> agree with the proposal earlier that the "insert" buttons stay 
> separate... I use them far more than any other buttons and I don't 
> really want to open a drop-down menu each time just to use them. But 
> instead of arguing over which buttons should be shown and how, why not 
> let the user decide? Many programs (including Firefox, FoxIt PDF Reader, 
> and MS Office, just to name a few I happen to have open) allow a user to 
> right click a toolbar and choose which toolbars/buttons should be shown. 
> MS Office is actually the most flexible of all, allowing the user to 
> both turn on/off toolbars and customize which buttons are shown in each. 
> Then the people who want small, simplistic windows can turn off all the 
> buttons they don't want, and the people who want huge long strings of 
> buttons can have them. And without complex or confusing preference 
> menus.
This is an interesting idea, and it's also interesting to note that 
there not currently a context menu on the toolbar.  But I think with 
something that is relatively simple (at the moment, anyway), this would 
be overkill.  All of the available options can easily be accessed with 
the keyboard, anyway.  Ctrl+B = Bold, I for italics, U for underline, 
etc.  And see below...

> A keyboard shortcut for inserting links would be nice too (a 
> shortcut for inserting the other things would be somewhat less useful 
> since they require using the mouse anyway).
You can use Alt+I to open the Insert menu with the keyboard, and then L 
to select Link.  Similarly, you can open all the menus and toolbar items 
with Alt+(underlined key).

Hope that helps.