workspace/doc/kcontrol/keys/index.docbook

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   8 <article lang="&language;">
   9 <articleinfo>
  10
  11 <authorgroup>
  12 <author>&Mike.McBride; &Mike.McBride.mail;</author>
  13 <author>&Jost.Schenck; &Jost.Schenck.mail;</author>
  14 <!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS -->
  15 </authorgroup>
  16
  17 <date>2002-02-13</date>
  18 <releaseinfo>3.00.00</releaseinfo>
  19
  20 <keywordset>
  21 <keyword>KDE</keyword>
  22 <keyword>KControl</keyword>
  23 <keyword>key bindings</keyword>
  24 <keyword>bindings</keyword>
  25 <keyword>shortcuts</keyword>
  26 </keywordset>
  27 </articleinfo>
  28
  29 <sect1 id="key-bindings">
  30 <title>Shortcuts</title>
  31
  32 <sect2 id="key-bindings-intro">
  33 <title>Introduction</title>
  34
  35 <para>While most of the functionality offered by &kde; can be accessed
  36 using a simple <quote>point and click</quote> interface, many people
  37 prefer using the keyboard for some tasks.  Pressing something like
  38 <keycombo action="simul"> &Ctrl;<keycap>F</keycap></keycombo> is often
  39 just faster than moving your hands off the keyboard to the mouse,
  40 opening the <guimenu>Edit</guimenu> menu and selecting
  41 <guimenuitem>Find</guimenuitem>.</para>
  42
  43 <para> As different people have different preferences about keyboard
  44 shortcuts, &kde; offers full customization of <quote>key
  45 bindings.</quote> A key binding or shortcut is a combination of an
  46 action with a key or a combination of keys.</para>
  47
  48 </sect2>
  49
  50 <sect2 id="key-bindings-use">
  51 <title>Use</title>
  52
  53 <para>In the Shortcuts control module you'll see a list of <quote>key
  54 schemes,</quote> a list of key bindings in the currently selected
  55 scheme and a frame where you can customize the currently selected key
  56 binding. Also, you'll see a tab for <guilabel>Global
  57 shortcuts</guilabel> and one for <guilabel>Application
  58 shortcuts</guilabel>.</para>
  59
  60 <sect3 id="key-bindings-use-globapp">
  61 <title>Global Shortcuts and Application Shortcuts</title>
  62
  63 <para><guilabel>Global shortcuts</guilabel> and <guilabel>application
  64 shortcuts</guilabel> work just the same. Actually, in a certain way
  65 application shortcuts are <quote>global</quote> as well. The only
  66 difference is:</para>
  67
  68 <itemizedlist>
  69 <listitem><para><quote>Global shortcuts</quote> are shortcuts for
  70 actions that make sense even when no application is opened. These
  71 shortcuts usually refer to actions like switching desktops, manipulating
  72 windows etc.  </para></listitem>
  73 <listitem><para><quote>Application shortcuts</quote> refer to actions
  74 that are often available in applications, such as Save, Print, Copy
  75 etc.</para></listitem>
  76 </itemizedlist>
  77
  78 <para>Please note, that the application shortcuts configured here are
  79 <emphasis>only</emphasis> the standard actions often found in
  80 applications. Most applications will define their own actions as well,
  81 for which you have to customize key bindings using the application's
  82 key bindings dialog.</para>
  83
  84 </sect3>
  85
  86 <sect3 id="key-bindings-use-confkeys">
  87 <title>Configuring Key Bindings</title>
  88
  89 <para>Configuring key bindings is pretty easy. In the middle of the
  90 key bindings control module you'll find a list of available
  91 actions. If there's a key binding configured for that action you'll
  92 find it right next to it. Just select the action you want to
  93 configure.</para>
  94
  95 <para>After you've selected an action you'll notice that most of the
  96 controls below the action list are enabled. There you can configure a
  97 combination of keys or maybe no key binding at all for the selected
  98 action.  </para>
  99
 100 <itemizedlist>
 101 <listitem><para><guilabel>No key</guilabel>: the selected action will not
 102 be associated with any key.</para></listitem>
 103
 104 <listitem><para><guilabel>Default key</guilabel>: the selected action
 105 will be associated with &kde;'s default value. This is a good choice
 106 for most actions, as &kde; comes with reasonable key bindings we have
 107 thought about.  </para></listitem>
 108
 109 <listitem><para><guilabel>Custom key</guilabel>: if this option is
 110 enabled, you can create a key combination for the selected
 111 action. Just select any modifiers (&ie; &Shift;, &Ctrl;, or &Alt;) and
 112 then select a key: just click on the key symbol and after that press
 113 the key you want to assign to this key combination.</para></listitem>
 114
 115 </itemizedlist>
 116
 117 <para>As with all control modules, your changes won't take in effect
 118 until you click <guibutton>OK</guibutton> or
 119 <guibutton>Apply</guibutton>. Click <guibutton>Cancel</guibutton> to
 120 discard all changes.</para>
 121
 122 </sect3>
 123
 124 <sect3 id="key-bindings-use-confschemes">
 125 <title>Configuring Schemes</title>
 126
 127 <para>A key binding scheme is a set of key bindings that you can
 128 select by name. &kde; comes with several pre-defined key binding
 129 schemes. In addition to these bundled schemes, you will always see a scheme named
 130 <guilabel>Current scheme</guilabel> that represents the set of key
 131 bindings you are using right now (&ie; not the current settings you
 132 are playing with, but what you've been using up to now). </para>
 133
 134 <para>When you are playing with the key bindings for the first time
 135 you don't have to be afraid of changing the default bindings: &kde;
 136 won't let you overwrite the defaults, so you can always switch back to
 137 the factory presets. By choosing <guilabel>Current scheme</guilabel>
 138 you can return to the set of key bindings you've been using up to
 139 now. However, be careful not to select a scheme when you've made
 140 changes to the key bindings you don't want to lose.</para>
 141
 142 <para>When you are satisfied with a set of key bindings you've
 143 created, you may want to save them to a scheme of your own, so that
 144 you can still experiment with the bindings and always return to a
 145 certain scheme. You can always do this by clicking on the
 146 <guibutton>Add</guibutton> button.  You will be prompted for a name
 147 and then the new scheme will appear in the key schemes listbox. You
 148 can remove your own schemes again by selecting a scheme and clicking
 149 the <guibutton>Remove</guibutton> button. Click the <guibutton>Save
 150 changes</guibutton> button to save any changes you have made to the
 151 currently selected scheme. Note that you can not remove or save
 152 changes to <guilabel>KDE default</guilabel> or to <guilabel>Current
 153 scheme</guilabel>.</para>
 154
 155 <important><para>If you want to save your changes while a read-only
 156 scheme is selected, you always have to add a new scheme first! If you
 157 select one of your own schemes because you want to save the changes to
 158 that one, the control module will switch to the key bindings of that
 159 scheme, discarding your changes.</para></important> </sect3>
 160
 161 </sect2>
 162
 163 <sect2>
 164 <title>Modifier Keys</title>
 165
 166 <para>Different keyboards offer different sets of modifier keys.  A
 167 &Mac; keyboard, for example, does not have a &Ctrl; key, and instead
 168 has an <keycap>Option</keycap> key.  Here you can see what the
 169 available modifier keys for the current keyboard are.</para>
 170
 171 <para>If you enable <guilabel>Macintosh keyboard</guilabel> the list
 172 of modifiers will change.</para>
 173
 174 <para>If you have enabled the &Mac; keyboard, you can further enable
 175 <guilabel>MacOS-style modifier usage</guilabel>, to make &kde; behave
 176 more like &MacOS;.</para><!-- FIXME: well, that's rather non-explanatory, more here would be good -->
 177
 178 <para>Finally, you can change what a keypress sends to the &X-Server;
 179 in the <guilabel>X Modifier Mapping</guilabel> section.  A common
 180 example is to reconfigure the <keycap>Caps Lock</keycap> key, which is
 181 rarely used, to be another &Ctrl; key.  This is especially nice if you
 182 are a touch typist, as <keycap>Caps Lock</keycap> is much easier to
 183 reach than either of the &Ctrl; keys on a standard keyboard.</para>
 184
 185 <!-- FIXME: what exactly is going on here... -->
 186
 187 </sect2>
 188
 189 </sect1>
 190
 191 </article>