🚀 go-pugleaf

I'm sure it's too late to bring this up, but the more I use NUPop 2.1, the
more I find the new key assignments to be a step backwards.  I realize this
change must have been in response to comments from users, but I can't see it
as an improvement at all.

In effect, the new version puts the user into different "modes" as she
switches between the three main windows (Index, View, Compose).  In earlier
versions, main menu keystrokes were always consistent between those three
screens, so that, for example, Alt-B could always be used to change
mailboxes.  Now that is no longer the case, even though the top menu (with
the highlighted B in MailBox) appears the same in each of the screens.

This last factor makes the change especially bad, because the highlighted
letters in the top menu are now basically useless, and even worse,
misleading.  If you visually scan the top menu for an Alt-letter to use,
you can't rely on it, until you've also checked all of the buttons on that
screen to make sure there isn't an overriding use for that same key.

Can anyone name a single program on the market that has this design, where
you can at some point in the program access some system menu options via
Alt-letter, but others on the same menu are unavailable because of a
"local-screen override"?  I would be very surprised if there are any, and I
think it's obvious why.

I realize these changes are immaterial for mouse users, but I think they're
a step backwards for keyboard users.  How do you explain to someone that
Alt-B will do what they want sometimes, but other times they have to press
F10 and then B?

As regards the "F10 to activate menu" option--this is a fallback to old PC
interfaces, such as 1-2-3 and the like, and is completely opposite the
current trend in design.  (Can anyone point out a recently designed program
that still uses this type of design--a menu that is activated by pressing a
"command" key?)  I really hate to try to teach this to my users when it's so
different from everything else they will be using.

I can see that this change allowed some minor cleaning up of key assignments
(I counted six of them in a quick look), but I don't think it was worth it.
The new "modes" make some commands so awkward that the program is harder to
use and to teach.

Pib, if you're absolutely committed to the new key assignments, I would
strongly suggest that you drop the hybrid use of the top menu.  Disallow the
use of Alt-letter entirely for the top menu, and remove the highlighting
from the letters so it's clear that the menu is inactive.  Then when the
user presses F10, have the menu "come to life" with its highlighted letters.
But I hope it's clear that I think it would be much better to go back to the
design of the earlier versions, in spite of the few awkward letter choices
it required.

Thanks for listening.

--Chris
==============================================
Chris Wolf                    00549cjw@msu.edu
Michigan State University     517 353-5017
Agricultural Economics