Hotkeys holder for tablet users - design doc

Hello tech-artist.org’ers

Below is a straight copy of a post recently made on Polycount. I think it will gather artists’ feedback there - but I guess it would be smart to post it here as well, mostly to know if that would be a realistic thing to code!

Original post:
http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=60572

Thanks!

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Hi there!

I think I quickly mentioned this some time ago but I have been thinking about it more over the last few days. There is a possibility that such tool already exists somewhere, but I thought I could share the design document and maybe, find someone interested in coding it!

Hotkeys holder for tablet and tabletPC users

Observation 1 : Most advanced programs let the user define keyboard shortcuts (hotkeys) ; and even if the most mainstream apps like itunes, firefox don’t give easy access to user customization, they very often come with hard coded hotkeys.

Observation 2 : Some users enjoy UI buttons over keyboards shortcuts. In some cases it is actually more practical to rely on UI buttons rather than hotkeys (tablet PCs, Cintiqs). However not every program allows for UI customisation and button creation.

Observation 3 : Every interface is different, but streamlining them could improve the user experience.

I am thinking of a shortcut container somehow similar to the Maya shelf, but with added functionality and running as a separated program. It would be turned on on start up and stay on display all the time.

Core features:
-Always on top of all the windows on screen.
-Contains an unlimited amount of slots.
-Each slot holds a keyboard shortcut, activated by clicking on it.
-Each slot contains a visual label making it easily recognizable : .gif, .ico, .png, or plain text description.
-Clicking an icon accepts ‘sliding’ behavior : no need to hold the stylus firmly in place for the click to validate as opposed to the Windows desktop icons behavior. See the Firefox3 Back and Forward buttons as an example of slide-friendly click behavior.
-The main part of the interface does not allow for dragging. In order to drag the container, one needs to clickdrag the dedicated Drag icon.
-The contents of the hotkeys holder update according to the app currently in focus. (if photoshop is in focus, the holder only displays photoshop related shortcuts)
-Absolute screen position of the holder is a user preference, defined for each application. (to avoid hiding useful UI elements)
-The holder can be resized by dragging the dedicated Resize icon
-When all apps are reduced and nothing is in focus, or when a folder explorer is in focus, the holder displays OS related shortcut icons

Low priority features :
-Support for complex shortcuts to provide 3D navigation support : click-drag on an icon can be bound to alt-click-drag
-Supports for repeatable actions (alt-click-drag-10pixelsXaxis) for discrete rotation, zooming, and pan.
-Multiple holders

And finally, a mockup! Examples of Firefox and Photoshoop behavior.

This is basically this


and this
http://www.xkeys.com/xkeys/xkstick.php
combined together in a virtual, desktop way.

Related tools :
Clutterbuster
http://appsapps.info/screenshots/clutterbuster.jpg
(only for .exe’s)

Wacoms popup menu tool

Directfolders

Launchy


Anyone wants to jump in?
If it ever sees the light of day I could see that being quite popular amongst visual artists. And then it’s just a matter of adding a ‘Polycount donation’ link somewhere in the options = server maintenance + minicomps prizes money!

Also it’s worth mentioning that the biggest benefit would be for tabletPC and Cintiq users - because the keyboard really is hard to reach in such cases. For a classic tablet+keyboard combo it might be a bit redundant! But maybe it could be a anti-RSI thing too ?

[edit : the Close button is unnecessary in the UI. This should be accessed with right click hit, since it’s not something one wants to hit by mistake!]

P

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That’s a pretty cool idea. I wonder if it could be prototyped with AutoHotKey or AutoIT - they seem good at that sort of thing.

Obsidian, I just checked out the www.autoitscript.com page and indeed it seems to perfectly fit. It even includes GUI icon support. However I have absolutely no scripting experience, hence I wonder if you know some simple AutoIT scripts I could look into to learn the very basics of the language?

I just posted the doc over there aswell, maybe things will happen!

Thanks!

Poir,

Best place to start with are the examples that come with the app.

Also here are some links to check out for some simple & advanced scripts:

http://www.pakkusblog.com/my-autoit-scripts/

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=20197

http://it.megocollector.com/?cat=7

~B)