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05 December
2007

Modified KeyMaster

Where Keith describes the reasoning behind the modifier keys used by MercuryMover

Tom commented yesterday that he would like to see a different set of behaviors for the modifier keys used when moving and resizing windows with MercuryMover. For the uninitiated, MercuryMover is our utility that lets you move and resize windows on your Mac via your keyboard. Tom suggested the following (and I quote):

Default - 50px

Option - 100px

Shift - 10px

option-shift (only for the OCD types) - 1px


While i'm not committing to anything, i'm definitely open to making a change for the v1.1 release. But before we start working on that next release, i thought i would describe how i ended up with the current behavior. All of these amounts have a precedent:

  • Default - 1px: When editing text, hitting an arrow key moves you one "space" (ok, i admit that this is the weakest one)
  • Shift - 10px: In Adobe Photoshop (and others), holding down the shift key while using the arrows would move your layer 10 pixels
  • Option - 100px: Similar to moving by one "word" which takes place when you hold option and hit an arrow key while editing text
  • Command - Edge of screen: Similar to moving to the end of the current line when you hold command and hit an arrow key while editing text

If you line these up side by side, they're actually pretty close so i may make a customer out of Tom just yet.

Posted by kalperin at 20:51 | Comments (2)
<< Ich Bin Ein Professional | Main | Launch Update >>
Comments
Re: Modified KeyMaster

Here I am again :-) Nice to see I made the blog!

Can I draw your attention to the context of Context over Consistency:

http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch09_Context_Over_Consistency.php

The fact is that moving one character at a time through text is very useful, while moving a window one pixel at a time is not.

How about a preferences window where we can set the movement amounts for ourselves? Or at least a plist file we can edit.

Posted by: Tom at December 10,2007 07:55
Re: Modified KeyMaster

We'll most likely include some facility for customizing the modifier keys in the v1.1 release. I've been thinking about how to include additional preferences in the Preference Pane without cluttering the interface and without losing the consistency that we currently have. Suggestions are always welcome!

Posted by: keith alperin at December 10,2007 20:38
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