[SUGGESTION] [EDITOR] [ADDED] Simplify hotkeys

[Nepster]

Status: Made the following changes:

Exit: Alt+X -> Alt+F4 (which already worked anyway)
Add Terrain: Ctrl+Shift+T > Alt+T
Add Object: Ctrl+Shift+O > Alt+O
Add Steel Area: Ctrl+Shift+S > Alt+S

Others I'm a bit wary of changing as they're generally either already just a single key, or are standard ones that apply to most Windows apps (eg. Ctrl+N for new, Ctrl+C for copy, etc).

Leaving the topic open for now in case further discussion is desired.

[Nepster]

The current hotkeys are e.g.

• Insert Terrain: Shift + Ctrl + T
• Insert Object: Shift + Ctrl + O
• Close Level: Ctrl + W
• Exit: Alt + X

As single letters aren't yet used for anything, I wonder why we have so complicated hotkey-combinations? Why not use "T" for Insert Terrain, "Esc" for Exit, etc.? Especially the Shift+Ctrl+... combinations are not user-friendly.

[namida]

I'm not sure why it specifically has Alt+X configured for Exit, rather than the more-standard Alt+F4 (which still works anyway). Changed this so that the menu just lists the standard Alt+F4 next to Exit.

I've changed the insert piece hotkeys to just be a single key, as per your suggestions. Most of the other ones are the standard ones you'd expect in Windows programs (eg. Ctrl+N for new, Ctrl+C for copy, etc) so I'd be quite wary of changing those.

[Nepster]

I looked at the experimental release and there are still some ugly "Shift + Ctrl + ..."-combinations left. So I propose the following further changes:

• Exit: Allow also "Esc" and not only "Alt+F4". "Esc" works in the player, so it should work here as well.
• New Level: Add "N" in addition to "Ctrl + N" if you are wary to remove the current hotkey.
• Open Level: Add "O" in addition to "Ctrl + O"
• Close Level: Add "Q" (= Quit Level) in addition to "Ctrl + W" (alternatively "W" if you change my proposal for No Overwrite)
• Save: Keep "Ctrl + S" for this. Simply take "S" for this. This is used often and so should have a very easy hotkey.
• Save as: Add "F12" as an additional hotkey. "F12" is currently used for the Window order menu. This however is one of the menus that is very rarely used (and one that I don't understand at all), so removing the hotkey for this menu is probably fine. Keep the original "Ctrl + S" for this.
• Past special: Remove the Ctrl and keep only "Shift + V"
• Trigger Areas: Currently has no hotkey at all, but is MUCH more important than Terrain Rendering (F5), Object Rendering (F6) or the completely outdated Steel Rendering (F7). So change the F7 function to Trigger Areas.

Moreover I noticed that the Inspector window has several options described as "Erase" suggesting with the underline some sort of hotkey. However I cannot make any such hotkeys work for me. So please make it clear what the hotkeys actually are. If they don't yet exist, please add them, e.g. as

• Erase: E
• No Overwrite: W
• Invert: T (then you would have to map the Insert Terrain hotkey to I)
• Flip: F
• Rotate: R

All these hotkeys should work for both objects and terrain pieces, depending what is currently selected.

If you have better suggestions how to map these hotkeys, please tell. With the above I just tried to map similar functions to hotkeys lying next to each other respectively keeping the current letter for the hotkey.

[Simon]

I weakly recommend caution with plain [S] for saving, for it clobbers the file without asking. No objections otherwise.

Standard Windows behavior is [Ctrl]-[S] to save, and [Ctrl]-[Shift]-[S] or [F12] to save as.

-- Simon

[Nepster]

Good point. I'll change my previous post accordingly.

And something I forgot to mention above: Similarly to New Level, Close Level, ... add a single letter hotkey (and not only "Ctrl + ...") for Cut (X), Copy (C) and Paste (V).

[namida]

I knew there was a reason that the keys weren't just single keys alone. If you try out the experimental version that includes this change, and try to make a complete level, you'll notice very quickly why.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

These keys are captured (and their effects occur) while trying to type in text, for example, the level's title. This probably can be fixed somehow, but is not worth the effort.

Still, Ctrl+Shift+Key is not nessecary. Since Shift+Key has the same problem, and Ctrl+Key has conflicts; I'm changing the shortcuts to Alt+Key.

[Nepster]

Hmm, I see. But "Esc" for Exit and especially a hotkey for Trigger Areas (e.g. F7) can be added without problems, no?

And please keep this suggestion in mind for the time, when you overhaul the Inspector and Level Properties window. Then would be a good time to change the priority of textboxes vs. hotkeys and to implement the simplified hotkeys.

PS: Alt+S and Alt+T had conflicts as well. Originally this opened the Selection resp. the Tools dropdown menu, similar to the still working Alt+F, Alt+E, Alt+V, Alt+H. But as these are useless functions anyway, I don't mind the remapping of Alt+S and Alt+T at all.

[namida]

I'll certianly keep it in mind, but I'm not sure how much can or can't be done without significantly overhauling other parts of the editor as well. Unlike the player code, which while a bit messy in parts, mostly makes sense at this point and most things can be done; the editor code is possibly the messiest, hardest-to-follow thing in existance, and most (not all, mind you) of the mess results not from modifications made before I really knew what I was doing, but simply from the original state of the editor's code (do keep in mind that the source for the stable version of the Lemmix Editor had been lost, and the NeoLemmix Editor was made based off an alpha version). Ideally I'd like to just replace the whole thing at some point, but I'm not sure if I'd ever actually get around to doing such a thing.

[namida]

Since there seems to be no new input on this that's practical at this point in time, I'm closing this topic now.