# To subscribers of the xforms list from Ivan Powis <Ivan.Powis@nottingham.ac.uk> :
> Dick Middleton wrote:
>
> > There's no difference in concept between tab, cr and mousing somewhere else.
> > They all change the input focus. Problem is mousing somewhere else doesn't
> > always.
>
> WRONG! Of course there is a difference. CR & TAB are line terminators.
This of course why xforms provides a return button which can be activated
by either a mouse click or by hitting return, and why it supports shortcuts,
again permitting objects to be activated by either mouse or keyboard ??
The mouse and keyboard are simple alternate user input devices, and the
application developer should be able to support a natural intuitive means
of using both.
TAB is a line terminator ? - no it means advance.. Actually thats what
you want to do having completed input to a field, to advance on ...
A user does not instinctively think in terms of "lines" or thus "line
terminators" when typing into a little box. Rather i'd suggest the
thought process runs along the lines: "I've done that, what
next?". Mousing to the next task on a form (be it a button or another
input) is thus often a more automatic response than hitting return -
see a subsequent poster to affirm that users often expect that
changing focus is a way to terminate input to a field. It should be
possible to ensure this happens (but at the moment xforms screws this
up by inconsistent behaviour when input fields loose focus). It seems
perverse to suggest that this should not be accomplished via callbacks
(should the developer choose) without some very ugly kludges.
--
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___ ___/ _ __ / Ivan Powis [Ivan.Powis@Nottingham.ac.uk]
/ / / School of Chemistry
/ / _/ University of Nottingham
/ ___/ Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
/ / TEL: +44-115-951-3467
/ / FAX: +44-115-951-3562
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