More flexibility for shortcut keys!

[Markus Barrera-Kolb]

I don't see any reason why the Workspace Editor restricts the modifier keys that we can use with menu commands and tools -- why can't I assign a keystroke without a modifier key to a menu item but I can assign one to a tool? I don't see any compelling reason for this. If I want to assign "G" to "Make Guide", why not let me? if I want to use with a menu item, why not let me?

[maarten.]

Agree!

I understand why NNA did this, to have some kind of logic in it, but believe me, this logic really isn't an advantage. So i agree with you!

But i would even go further than this, i posted it on the Ducth forum ones (without much "hoera for that" though ):

• The possibility to use normal keys as modifier. For example, i would like to give all my Architectural tools a shortkey like this:
  A+W for window
  A+D for door
  ...
  
• The possibility to use double keystrokes as a shortkey:
  one time "&" is text
  two times "&" is rotated text
  ...
  
• Double right mouse click: OK the dialog
  Double scroll weel click: move page
  (for example of course)
  
• And shortcuts to the pallets would be useful too! For example, when you select a pio and you want to change a parameter, you now need to use your mouse to go to there... I would like to have a shortkey to go to there (for example alt+tab). That's much faster then using the mouse (especially when you have a big screen (and i guess most users have that nowadays)).
  
• And last, but not least: expand the pio's with intelligent keys (ctrl(command), shift, alt) when using the tool. For example: when you draw a line and hold down shift, you'll draw a line under a curtain angle, when you make selection crossing over some objects while holding down alt, you'll select all the objects that "though" that crossing,...
  So, let's expand that use, it's very useful! For example: the rectangle tool: while drawing, you can hold down ctrl to switch mode (rotated - straight rectangle). Just like the eyedropper tool has, it's very useful!
  When a symbol or pio is in a wall, it would be usefull to "lock" them in the wall so they wouldn't flip out of the wall while moving them to an other place. For example: select the pio and hold down the mouse button, press tab and fill in a value, hold down alt and loose the mousebutton => the pio moved and is still in the wall.
  I know, you can change that one mode in the mode bar... You can even link shortkeys to those modes (very handy btw), but i would like more ways of doing such things.
  And skip the rotation part while placing pio's by point. Now, when you're placing a pio by point in your drawing, you have to click two times: ones to give it it's location, and a second time to give it it's rotation. I would like to be able to skip that rotation part by holding down the alt key while placing that pio (so that you only have to click one time)
  

IMO, the mouse should only be used to draw, not to click on icons, go to menu's or go to pallets... And it's to bad that VW is mostly programmed that way that the only possibility is to use your mouse to go to those places...

I really hope that NNA will take an other look at their shortkey-system and make it easier for the user to adjust and expand... I ran out of logic shortkeys years ago... I have to let go shortkeys for other ones quite often because there are non available anymore (well, no logic ones that is)

[grant_PD]

It's funny that the world gravitated towards icons and mouseclicks and thumbed their nose at the command line style of working with programs. The first thing I tell people when training them in Vectorworks or Photoshop is that ALL the big boys use quick keys.

I agree with all of the above suggestions. Since discovering that I can default classes of PIO's, I've been implementing that and cutting down on my class shifting. But it doesn't work for all tools, and it should.

[Markus Barrera-Kolb]

Yeah, maarten's suggestions are excellent. I'm a recent AutoCAD convert, and I did everything using the keyboard - arguably a much faster way to work! I do miss the ability to use multiple keystrokes to define shortcuts, which allowed them to be much more intuitive, e.g. TR for trim, MI for mirror, RC for revision cloud, and so on. I do like not having to press ENTER or the space bar after every command entry, but I would like a bit more flexibility in defining my shortcuts...

[AndiACD]

Only NNA knows!!

Answers please on a postcard . . . . . .

NNA? Are you listening?