WM suport for grab key scrolling

[Marco Pesenti Gritti]

On Fri, 2007-04-20 at 13:22 -0400, Eben Eliason wrote:
> On 4/20/07, Marco Pesenti Gritti <mpg at redhat.com> wrote:
> > On Fri, 2007-04-20 at 18:27 +0200, Bert Freudenberg wrote:
> > > > Well, yeah, but the fact that's physically part of the the keyboard
> > > > doesn't really suggest it's a mouse modifier. And the fact that we
> > > > have
> > > > a scrolling mode (press/release) doesn't suggest it either.
> > >
> > > Who actually thinks this is a good idea? I'd much rather require
> > > holding the grab key. There will be numerous kids trying to move the
> > > pointer while nothing happens.
> 
> Yeah, When I first considered that idea I was still envisioning a
> graphical change of the cursor to indicate the mode.  If we don't have
> any visual indication that "scroll mode" is active, then we probably
> shouldn't allow it to lock on.
> 
> The more I consider it, though, I think a cursor change is probably
> the right thing to do anyway.  Highlighting the scrollbar is good, but
> actually modifying the cursor really links the two logically.  Perhaps
> we should use the "fleur" cursor when the view can scroll both
> directions, and the "left-right" or "up/down" (whatever the correct
> name is for those) cursors when the region scrolls only in one axis.
> Perhaps better, we can duplicate the grab key graphic, smaller and
> superimposed over the aforementioned icons.
> 
> This gives visual feedback that links the key to the cursor position.
> It also let's you know (in addition to the highlighting) that a scroll
> region accepts grab scrolling (since the cursor shouldn't change
> unless it's in a region that supports it).  It also provides
> additional information about the directions you can scroll.  These are
> all good things.
> 
> We can still argue about the grab-lock mode independently of this.  I
> won't cry if it doesn't get in.  I think I'd like it personally, but
> it would really come down to user testing with kids in my opinion.

I think visual feedback will work for the case when kids knows about the
feature. Though, when kids press the key accidentally they will not know
how to undo the action and get back in the normal mode. Or am I missing
something?

Marco