DECwindows Companion to the OSF/Motif Style Guide


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7.4.2 Techniques for Highlighting

Here are some highlighting techniques to consider:

7.5 Using Windowing Properly

In order for your application to be an effective hyperapplication, make it use windowing in the following ways:

Digital recommends that you have your application support multiple display windows because of the way the Visit menu item works.

The Visit menu item in the Link menu opens a new window to display the new link, while leaving your original window open. If, however, your application does not support multiple display windows, selecting the Visit menu item will display your new information in the one window that was already displaying information, thereby preventing users from comparing information in two different links. In effect, you deny users the use of a true Visit operation.

Have your application respond to navigation requests by displaying only the requested linkable object in order to avoid confusion and screen clutter. For example, when users follow a link to a Bookreader topic, only make the topic appear. Do not automatically display a library or an index window.


Appendix A
Keyboard and Mouse Bindings for DECwindows Motif

This appendix provides a table of the keyboard bindings for DECwindows Motif, a table of the mouse bindings for Digital's three-button mouse, and a table of the standard accelerators (keyboard bindings for menu items) for the Window menu and the Edit menu.

Menus are assumed to be vertical; menu bars, horizontal.

Examples are intended to illustrate the most common uses of the keys. The examples are not exhaustive.

Motif uses a plus sign (+) to show key combinations (for example, Alt+F5). Digital traditionally uses a slash (/) for key combinations. This document uses plus signs throughout these tables.

A.1 Keyboard Bindings

The bindings described in the tables of this appendix pertain to Digital LK401 keyboards and Digital PC-style keyboards (including the LK443 and LK444 models). DECwindows applications can also use the Digital LK201 keyboard, which is almost identical to the LK401 model. Table A-1 lists the differences between the LK201 and the LK401 keyboard.

Table A-1 Differences Between LK201 and LK401 Keyboards
LK201 LK401
Compose Character Key Two Alt keys and two Compose Character keys, one of each on each side of the space bar
Prev Screen Prev
Next Screen Next

OSF/Motif supports bindings for a number of other keyboards. For information about bindings for these other keyboards, see the OSF/Motif Style Guide.

The general concepts of the keyboard bindings are as follows:

Table A-2 lists the modifiers for the DECwindows Motif bindings.

Table A-2 Modifiers for DECwindows Motif Keyboard Bindings
Motif Name Keyboard Equivalent Usage Examples
MShift Shift A modifier key.

When used with KUp, KDown, KLeft, KRight, KBeginLine, KEndLine, KBeginData, and KEndData will perform the navigation operation and extend the selection.

     
MCtrl Ctrl A modifier key.

Keyboard bindings that use the MCtrl modifier (the Ctrl key) are usually higher-order actions than the same key binding without the MCtrl modifier. For example, to go the beginning of a line, you press Alt+ <-, while to go to the beginning of the file, you press Ctrl+Alt+ <-.

     
MAlt Alt A modifier key.
     


1On the LK201 keyboard use Compose Character

Table A-3 lists the general keyboard bindings for DECwindows Motif.

Table A-3 General Bindings
Motif Name LK401 Equivalent PC-style Equivalent Use
KEnter Return Return Inserts a carriage return in a multiline text-entry field.

Also used in activation. See KActivate.

       
KHelp Help F1 Invokes context-sensitive help for the control that contains the location cursor.
       
KCancel F11 Escape Cancels mouse-drag operations such as moving a window, resizing a window, or using a menu.

Cancels menus.

Cancels dialog boxes.

       
KTab Tab Tab Inserts a tab character in a multiline text-entry field.

Also used in field navigation. See KNextField, KPrevField.

       
KBackTab Shift+Tab Shift+Tab Used in field navigation. See KPrevField.
       
KSpace Space bar Space bar Inserts a blank space in text-entry fields.

Also used in selection. See KSelect.

       
KBackSpace < X| Backspace In text, if any characters are selected deletes them. Otherwise, deletes the character preceding the cursor.

Also used in undo. See KUndo.

       
KUp <uparrow symbol> <uparrow symbol> Moves up in menus, multiline text controls, list boxes, and other scrollable controls.

Moves up between controls in a tab group.

       
KDown <downarrow symbol> <downarrow symbol> Moves down in menus, multiline text controls, list boxes, and other scrollable controls.

Moves down between controls in a tab group.

       
KLeft <- <- Moves left in text controls and other scrollable controls.

Moves left between controls in a tab group.

Also used in menu navigation.

       
KRight -> -> Moves right in text controls and other scrollable controls.

Moves right between controls in a tab group.

Also used in menu navigation.

In pull-down menus, acts as KPrevMenu. See KNextMenu.

       
KPageUp Prev PageUp Scrolls up in a multiline text field, list box, or other scrollable control.
       
KPageDown Next PageDown Scrolls down in a multiline text field, list box, or other scrollable control.
       
       
KDelete Remove Delete In text, if any characters are selected, deletes them. Otherwise, deletes the character following the cursor.

In other controls, deletes the selected items.

Table A-4 lists the keyboard bindings for general navigation in DECwindows Motif.

Table A-4 Bindings for General Navigation
Motif Name LK401 Equivalent PC-style Equivalent Use
KBeginLine Alt+ <- Home Moves to beginning of line in a text field. In a list box or other scrollable control, moves to first item.
       
KEndLine Alt+-> End Moves to end of line in a text field. In a list box or other scrollable control, moves to last item.
       
KBeginData Ctrl+Alt+ <- Ctrl+Home Moves to beginning of a text field, list box, or other scrollable control.
       
KEndData Ctrl+Alt+-> Ctrl+End Moves to end of a text field, list box, or other scrollable control.
       
KPageLeft Ctrl+Prev Ctrl+PageUp Scrolls left in a text control, list box, or other scrollable control.
       
KPageRight Ctrl+Next Ctrl+PageDown Scrolls right in a text control, list box, or other scrollable control.
       
KNextField Tab
Ctrl+Tab
Tab
Ctrl+Tab
Moves location cursor to the next basic control or tab group in a dialog box. Moves the location cursor from pane to sash to next pane in a paned window.
       
KPrevField Shift+Tab
Shift+Tab Moves location cursor to the previous basic control or tab group in a dialog box. Moves the location cursor from pane to sash to previous pane in a paned window (reverse order of Tab key).

Table A-5 lists the keyboard bindings for navigating menus in DECwindows Motif.

Table A-5 Bindings for Menu Navigation
Motif Name LK401 Equivalent PC-style Equivalent Use
KMenuBar F10 F10 Moves location cursor to the menu bar. If the location cursor is already in the menu bar or in a pull-down menu, moves it back to the client area.
       
KMenu Shift+F10 Shift+F10 Displays a pop-up menu. If the location cursor is already in a pull-down menu, cancels the menu.

Table A-6 lists the keyboard bindings for navigating text in DECwindows Motif.

Table A-6 Bindings for Text Navigation
Motif Name LK401 Equivalent PC-style Equivalent Use
KPrevWord Ctrl+ <- Ctrl+ <- Moves to the previous word in a text field.
       
KNextWord Ctrl+-> Ctrl+-> Moves to the next word in a text field.
       
KPrevPara Ctrl+<uparrow symbol> Ctrl+<uparrow symbol> Moves to the previous paragraph in a multiline text field. An optional function.
       
KNextPara Ctrl+<downarrow symbol> Ctrl+<downarrow symbol> Moves to the next paragraph in a multiline text field. An optional function.
       
KEraseEndLine Ctrl+Remove Ctrl+Delete Erases to the end of the line. An optional function.

Table A-7 lists the keyboard bindings for navigating windows in DECwindows Motif.

Table A-7 Bindings for Window Navigation
Motif Name LK401 Equivalent PC-style Equivalent Use
KWindowMenu Shift+F11
Shift+F11 Posts the window menu.
       
KNextWindow Alt+Tab Alt+Tab Moves to the next window that is not part of the current window family.
       
KPrevWindow Shift+Alt+Tab Shift+Alt+Tab Moves to the previous window that is not part of the current window family.
       
KNextFamilyWindow Alt+F6 Alt+F6 Moves to next window in window family.
       
KPrevFamilyWindow Shift+Alt+F6 Shift+Alt+F6 Moves to previous window in window family.

Table A-8 lists the keyboard bindings for activating screen objects in DECwindows Motif.

Table A-8 Bindings for Activation and Editing
Motif Name LK401 Equivalent PC-style Equivalent Use
KActivate Return
Ctrl+Return
Enter
Enter Terminates a move or resize of a window.

In menus (pull-down, pop-up, and option), activates (chooses) a menu item.

In dialog boxes, when location cursor is not in the push-button field or in an option menu, activates the default push button.

In dialog boxes, when location cursor is in the push-button field, activates the push button containing the location cursor.

When the location cursor is in a multiline text-entry field, Return will insert a carriage return. Ctrl+Return must be used to activate the default push button.

       
KUndo Alt+< X| Alt+Backspace An optional function. Undoes the previous operation.
       
KSelect Select
Space bar
Space bar Activates push buttons, check buttons (toggles them on or off), and option menus.

Activates (turns on) a radio button that is off. If all the buttons in a set of radio buttons can be off, turns off a radio button that is on. If one of the buttons in a set of radio buttons must always be on, does not turn radio buttons off.

Can be used to select an item in a list box. KSelect followed by a shifted navigation operation initiates range selection; for text-entry fields, Ctrl+Space bar must be used.

       
KExtend Shift+Ctrl+Space bar
Shift+Select
Shift+Ctrl+Space bar In Add Mode, a user can type KSelect, navigate to a different location, and then type KExtend to select all of the items in the extended range.
       
KReselect Ctrl+Shift+Space bar Ctrl+Shift+Space bar An optional function. Restores the previous selection.
       
KSelectAll Ctrl+Slash (/) Ctral+Slash (/) Selects all of the elements in a control (for example, a text-entry field, list box, graphics canvas).
       
KDeselectAll Ctrl+Backslash (\) Ctrl_Backslash (\) Deselects all of the elements in a control (for example, a text-entry field, list box, graphics canvas).
       
KCut Remove Shift+Delete Cuts selected object to the clipboard.
       
KCopy Ctrl+Insert Here Ctrl+Insert Copies selected object to the clipboard.
       
KPaste Shift+Insert Here Shift+Insert Pastes from the clipboard.
       
KAddMode Shift+F8 Shift+F8 Toggles between Normal Mode and Add Mode. Normal Mode is the default state, and allows only range selection from the keyboard. Add Mode allows keyboard users to make discontiguous selections.
       
KRestore Ctrl+Shift+Insert Here Ctrl+Shift+Insert Restores text to value prior to editing.


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