<?xml version="1.0" ?> <!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//KDE//DTD DocBook XML V4.2-Based Variant V1.1//EN" "dtd/kdex.dtd" [ <!ENTITY % addindex "IGNORE"> <!ENTITY % English "INCLUDE" > <!-- change language only here --> ]> <article lang="&language;"> <articleinfo> <authorgroup> <author>&Mike.McBride; &Mike.McBride.mail;</author> <author>&Jost.Schenck; &Jost.Schenck.mail;</author> <!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS --> </authorgroup> <date>2009-11-30</date> <releaseinfo>&kde; 4.4</releaseinfo> <keywordset> <keyword>KDE</keyword> <keyword>KControl</keyword> <keyword>key bindings</keyword> <keyword>bindings</keyword> <keyword>shortcuts</keyword> </keywordset> </articleinfo> <sect1 id="key-bindings"> <title>Shortcuts</title> <sect2 id="key-bindings-intro"> <title>Introduction</title> <para>While most of the functionality offered by &kde; can be accessed using a simple <quote>point and click</quote> interface, many people prefer using the keyboard for some tasks. Pressing something like <keycombo action="simul"> &Ctrl;<keycap>F</keycap></keycombo> is often just faster than moving your hands off the keyboard to the mouse, opening the <guimenu>Edit</guimenu> menu and selecting <guimenuitem>Find</guimenuitem>.</para> <para> As different people have different preferences about keyboard shortcuts, &kde; offers full customization of <quote>key bindings.</quote> A key binding or shortcut is a combination of an action with a key or a combination of keys.</para> </sect2> <sect2 id="key-bindings-use-globapp"> <title>Standard Shortcuts and Global Shortcuts</title> <para>Standard shortcuts and Global shortcuts work just the same. Actually, in a certain way standard or application shortcuts are <quote>global</quote> as well. The only difference is:</para> <itemizedlist> <listitem><para><quote>Standard keyboard shortcuts</quote> refer to actions that are often available in applications, such as Save, Print, Copy &etc;</para></listitem> <listitem><para><quote>Global keyboard shortcuts</quote> are shortcuts for actions that make sense even when no application is opened. These shortcuts usually refer to actions like switching desktops, manipulating windows &etc;</para></listitem> </itemizedlist> <para>Please note, that the application shortcuts configured here are <emphasis>only</emphasis> the standard actions often found in applications. Most applications will define their own actions as well, for which you have to customize key bindings using the application's key bindings dialog.</para> <sect3 id="key-bindings-standard"> <title><guilabel>Standard Keyboard Shortcuts</guilabel> tab</title> <para>At the bottom of this dialog you see an input box, where you can search interactively for shortcut names (⪚ Copy) or combination of keys (⪚ <keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>C</keycap> </keycombo>) by typing them here.</para> <para>Below the search box you can see a list of key bindings, &ie; associations between actions (⪚ Copy) shown in the <guilabel>Actions</guilabel> column and keys or combination of keys (⪚ <keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>C</keycap> </keycombo>) shown in the <guilabel>Shortcut</guilabel> or <guilabel>Alternate</guilabel> column. </para> <!-- Global column is empty what's that???--> </sect3> <sect3 id="key-bindings-global"> <title><guilabel>Global Keyboard Shortcuts</guilabel> tab</title> <para>At the bottom of this page is a drop down box which allows you to select a <guilabel>KDE component</guilabel> like KWin, Plasma Workspace &etc; The defined shortcuts for the selected component are displayed in the <guilabel>Actions</guilabel> and <guilabel>Global</guilabel> column in the list view. Click the <guilabel>File</guilabel> drop down box at the right to import/export a Scheme, set all shortcuts to none and remove a component.</para> <para>This page has the same search box as the <guilabel>Standard Keyboard Shortcuts</guilabel> tab.</para> </sect3> <sect3 id="key-bindings-use-confkeys"> <title>Configuring Key Bindings</title> <para>Configuring key bindings is pretty easy. In the middle of these &systemsettings; modules you will find a list of available actions. If there's a key binding configured for that action you will find it in the columns right to it. Just select the action you want to configure.</para> <para>After you have selected an action in the list you will notice that this item is highlighted and you see two additional check boxes below this item in the list view. There you can configure a combination of keys or maybe no key binding at all for the selected action. </para> <itemizedlist> <listitem><para><guilabel>Default</guilabel>: the selected action will be associated with &kde;'s default value. This is a good choice for most actions, as &kde; comes with reasonable key bindings we have thought about. </para></listitem> <listitem><para><guilabel>Custom</guilabel>: if this option is enabled, you can create a key combination for the selected action. Click on the button labeled either <guibutton>None</guibutton> or labeled with the previously selected custom shortcut. Now the button label changes to <guibutton>Input</guibutton>. Then press any modifier key (&ie; &Shift;, &Ctrl;, or &Alt;) and then normal key or a function key (⪚ <keycap>F11</keycap>) you want to assign to this key combination.</para> <para>Clicking on the <guilabel>Alternate</guilabel> column of a row in the list allows to edit the second shortcut for the action.</para></listitem> </itemizedlist> </sect3> <!-- changed in kde4 <sect3 id="key-bindings-use-confschemes"> <title>Configuring Schemes</title> <para>A key binding scheme is a set of key bindings that you can select by name. &kde; comes with several pre-defined key binding schemes. In addition to these bundled schemes, you will always see a scheme named <guilabel>Current scheme</guilabel> that represents the set of key bindings you are using right now (&ie; not the current settings you are playing with, but what you've been using up to now). </para> <para>When you are playing with the key bindings for the first time you don't have to be afraid of changing the default bindings: &kde; won't let you overwrite the defaults, so you can always switch back to the factory presets. By choosing <guilabel>Current scheme</guilabel> you can return to the set of key bindings you've been using up to now. However, be careful not to select a scheme when you've made changes to the key bindings you don't want to lose.</para> <para>When you are satisfied with a set of key bindings you've created, you may want to save them to a scheme of your own, so that you can still experiment with the bindings and always return to a certain scheme. You can always do this by clicking on the <guibutton>Add</guibutton> button. You will be prompted for a name and then the new scheme will appear in the key schemes listbox. You can remove your own schemes again by selecting a scheme and clicking the <guibutton>Remove</guibutton> button. Click the <guibutton>Save changes</guibutton> button to save any changes you have made to the currently selected scheme. Note that you can not remove or save changes to <guilabel>KDE default</guilabel> or to <guilabel>Current scheme</guilabel>.</para> <important><para>If you want to save your changes while a read-only scheme is selected, you always have to add a new scheme first! If you select one of your own schemes because you want to save the changes to that one, the control module will switch to the key bindings of that scheme, discarding your changes.</para></important> </sect3> --> <!--not in kde 4 </sect2> <sect2> <title>Modifier Keys</title> <para>Different keyboards offer different sets of modifier keys. A &Mac; keyboard, for example, does not have a &Ctrl; key, and instead has an <keycap>Option</keycap> key. Here you can see what the available modifier keys for the current keyboard are.</para> <para>If you enable <guilabel>Macintosh keyboard</guilabel> the list of modifiers will change.</para> <para>If you have enabled the &Mac; keyboard, you can further enable <guilabel>MacOS-style modifier usage</guilabel>, to make &kde; behave more like &MacOS;.</para> <para>Finally, you can change what a keypress sends to the &X-Server; in the <guilabel>X Modifier Mapping</guilabel> section. A common example is to reconfigure the <keycap>Caps Lock</keycap> key, which is rarely used, to be another &Ctrl; key. This is especially nice if you are a touch typist, as <keycap>Caps Lock</keycap> is much easier to reach than either of the &Ctrl; keys on a standard keyboard.</para> </sect2> --> </sect2> </sect1> </article>
