Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 3:18 am Post subject: Standard Mac OS X key combos for cursor movement
Cmd-RightArrow goes to the next word instead of the end of the line; Option-RightArrow does not go to the next word - same for combinations with LeftArrow.
Similarly, the Home/End keys don't work like in native Mac OS X apps.
This is to me the biggest hurdle in advising people to use NeoOffice under Mac OS X. First I teach them how the key combos work in general, then I have to educate them on a special case like NeoOffice. Makes it hard for a new Mac user to get accustomed to the different cursor navigation key combos.
Joined: Oct 24, 2005 Posts: 561 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 4:49 am Post subject:
It is possible to get the Cmd-Arrow behaviour that you want using Tools -> Customize -> Keyboard, however the is no support for the Opt (Alt) key in NeoOffice.
Joined: Oct 24, 2005 Posts: 561 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 3:00 am Post subject:
If you download and install OpenOffice.org for MacOS, which runs under the X11 environment, I think you will find that NeoOffice has been changed a great deal to make it more consistent with Mac OS X.
The NeoOffice project is quite mature now. All of the "easy" things have been done, most of the "difficult" things have been done, and an amazing number of the "frankly this is not possible, oh wait if I (Patrick) just do this..." things have also been done.
The fundamental problems with keyboard shortcuts are that NeoOffice is built from OpenOffice which is designed primarily for Windows. The Mac has an extra meta key than Windows - we have Option/Alt and Command/Apple, they have Alt and the not useful in applications Windows key. Add to this the fact that Apple's implementation of Java seems to not know about the Option key and it becomes more or less impossible to get NeoOffice to respond exactly like other Mac applications.
To get the desired result requires one or more of the following:
1. Apple fixing Java so it knows about Option
2. Abandoning use of Java for menus in NeoOffice
3. Re-engineering portions of OpenOffice code to understand the Option key
4. Somebody donating an awful lot of money to the project
5. A new developer who know how to and has the time to do the above
Please don't take this response the wrong way. NeoOffice has several years of history and most of your suggestions have been made before. As I and others have pointed out there are work-arounds to some of them and others, I'm afraid we just have to live with (for the time being).
If you can code and are willing to get your hands dirty, your help will be appreciated.
These are just my thoughts, I'm not trying to be dismissive.
Joined: Apr 25, 2006 Posts: 2315 Location: Montpellier, France
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 12:06 pm Post subject:
FWIW, the specs for the SoC project can be found here. Judging by the scope of their project, most (if not all) of this HIG work is already in NeoOffice ...
Joined: Nov 21, 2005 Posts: 1285 Location: Witless Protection Program
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 5:17 pm Post subject:
KAMiKAZOW wrote:
OO has a Summer Of Code project to make OO conform to the Mac HIG. Maybe NeoOffice can benefit from it. If so, keys would behave like they should.
THAT is exactly the point!
NeoOffice 2.1 is based on the code of OOo 2.1.
IF OpenOffice .org code is updated/improved - then code that NeoOffice can use is improved.
That is what has happened in the past and I would assume it would happen in the future.
HIG is ... hard! Hard when your code base is over 20 years old and designed with Windows GUI in mind.
More like turning a Heavy duty Truck into a ... luxury SUV. It "could" be done, but at what cost?
Americans have a phrase: "making a silk purse out of a sow's (pigs) ear"
Please understand that the Forum responses are not ignoring your comments/suggests. Many have been discussed, in detail, previously. That is why there are suggestions to refer to previous posts - to understand the history of the NeoOffice project.
NeoOffice exists only because Patrick and Ed continue to work on items that interests them.
Not for wealth (tho they would ... enjoy that! ), Market share, prestige, or because some boss says they have to. And I think only "Ed" is really trying to take over the ... world.
They have been quite clear on this issue (see previous posts):
1. when NeoOffice ceases to be enjoyable challenge and becomes a ... burden, they will cease their incredible efforts. ( and repeated requests that "seem" demanding can be seen as a burden)
2. If OOo Mac Aqua every replaces the need for NeoOffice, then so be it.
We welcome your comments. Really
But please understand that some things may not change.
Philip ( A community member for over a year, and still just understanding a tiny part of the entire project. )
\. "Never try to teach a Bear to dance. You will only frustrate yourself - and it annoys the Bear!" _________________ Have you checked the NeoWiki Documentation Page for more answers?
http://neowiki.neooffice.org/index.php/Documentation_and_Related_Resources
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