SignWriter Java program - a question for everyone

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
January 16, 2003

Dear SW List and Ingvild, Daniel...
That is a good point about the shortcuts. One of the features that we
never got programmed in the old SW Java were the shortcut keys...so the
current version doesn't even have any English shortcuts...none...so I
will leave that to Daniel and his team, as to how they will approach
shortcuts... As you know, SW Java is more mouse driven than the old
SignWriter DOS. The old SW DOS could not use a mouse, so the shortcuts
were very important in SW DOS because they replaced the mouse...and
were the only way to navigate....but in modern programs the shortcuts
are usually just one of several ways to navigate....so they are not
quite as important. If you have pull-down menus, then let you choose
what to do with your mouse, the shortcuts become secondary...I know the
SW-Java team in Switzerland is re-designing SignWriter Java from the
beginning...so we will have a totally new program in time...Val ;-)

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On Jan 16, 2004, at 5:29 AM, Ingvild Roald wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> as you know, Daniel and others are busy working on programming
> SignWriter
> Java now, for use on PCs and Macs and ..
>
> I do not know if this question is pressing for the programmers yet,
> but I
> thought I would pose it now anyway:
>
> It has to do with menues and shortcuts.
>
> In Norway, we are used to having the big programs translated into
> Norwegian, so that the menues are in Norwegian. But the shortcuts are
> still based on English, the are the easily reached combinations of the
> CTRL-key and C for Copy, X for cut, Z for undo, V for paste, A for
> all. -
> I am not sure about the Mac shortcuts, but I imagine it is similar. I I
> guess that most countries will have the program menues translated, but
> not
> the shortcut keys.
> In the old SignWriter DOS version, the shortcuts are done by the
> ALT-key
> and the first letter from a menue translated into Norwegian.
> Now my question is: can we use the way that is familiar from other
> programs, or should we stick to a SW-specific, language-specific way? I
> would prefer the former: the 'conventional' shortcuts for PC-programs.
>
> Ingvild
>