Additional Keyboard Shortcuts

[JP1]

Strikethrough ctrl+shift+backtick (which is essentially ctrl+~)

A shortcut for turning text or a link into a file/image/picture based link.

The problem that I’d want to solve is using the right-click menu less, once the new editor is implemented.

Tying into the WYSIWYG editor, when making a link, I think some additional buttons that would help would be a paperclip, photo thumbnail, and a link button, along with an up/down arrow beside each other that would swap the text and link, thus requiring the least amount of set up possible. And if it doesn’t clutter things up too much, copy buttons for the link and link text might be useful, too.

I’m sorry if this is two ideas in one, I can make another post for the second one if needed.

[Erica]

I’m sorry if this is two ideas in one, I can make another post for the second one if needed.

I think it’s fine to put them in one post. They are all kind of related to each other.

Maybe edit the title to be “Additional formatting keyboard shortcuts”? That seems to be more accurate.

[Erica]

I agree we need more shortcuts… I miss Ctrl+K (insert link) in Dynalist myself sometimes too.

I think the biggest challenge is (1) coming up with good shortcuts and (2) make them accessible without being overwhelming.

Shortcut help now has so many shortcuts we had to group them into categories. Even after that, the list seems daunting. Maybe we should hide advanced shortcuts by default?

Strikethrough ctrl+shift+backtick (which is essentially ctrl+~)

This is reasonable. Maybe we can just write Ctrl+~ so that it’s easier to remember. This shortcut would be tricky for other keyboard layouts though

The problem that I’d want to solve is using the right-click menu less, once the new editor is implemented.

You mean the menu that you get by right clicking the bullet?

We had an idea a while back. It’s this: you type a shortcut to invoke the menu on the current item. And then your cursor is automatically focus on a searchbox and filters menu options. For example, if you want to delete checked items, you can open the menu with shortcut, type “delete checked”, and press Enter. I know that sounds like a lot of steps, but I think in reality it would be faster than reaching for your mouse, opening the menu, scanning it, and clicking on the “Delete checked items” option.

Any thoughts on that? [quote=“JP1, post:1, topic:36”]
Tying into the WYSIWYG editor, when making a link, I think some additional buttons that would help would be a paperclip, photo thumbnail, and a link button, along with an up/down arrow beside each other that would swap the text and link, thus requiring the least amount of set up possible. And if it doesn’t clutter things up too much, copy buttons for the link and link text might be useful, too.
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We’ll have to see how it looks like before making a decision on that. As you said, we don’t want to put 20 options in the edit bar and clutter things up.

[JP1]

Shortcut help now has so many shortcuts we had to group them into categories. Even after that, the list seems daunting. Maybe we should hide advanced shortcuts by default?

Yeah, I wouldn’t how now to do it without making the shortcuts help section interactive, by having other topics collapsible, etc (like a mini-Dynalist, lol). To me, it was daunting at first, but I starting using it more over time. It could be organized a bit better, but I don’t know what would work for every user.

One thing would be to have a page that uses upvotes and downvotes to prioritize the list based on what people use, and then break it down accordingly.

Other ways would be to scan the documents that dynalist has to see what kinds for formatting people are using and then rank it from there. I don’t know how you could go about it without scaring people, though, even if it’s totally safe and private (technically you guys have access to a lot of stuff as a cloud provider anyway (the same with Google, Facebook, etc.), which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The last one that I thought of is to move the list to where the most used functions, by the user sink below. And if they use something via the menu, then that could be raised to the top so that way can adopt the keyboard shortcut instead.

Or maybe it’s not a big deal anyway, as users who use shortcuts might not be overwhelmed by it all.

This shortcut would be tricky for other keyboard layouts though

Ah, that’s unfortunate. Maybe it could be unlisted? Using a dash would work, too.

You mean the menu that you get by right clicking the bullet?

No, I meant the WYIWYG menu, but I guess both.

Any thoughts on that?

That seems pretty neat! Obviously just make sure menu items have tags to support relevant queries, so something like “Make Link” would show up if the terms “hyperlink”, “create link”, etc were entered.

We’ll have to see how it looks like before making a decision on that. As you said, we don’t want to put 20 options in the edit bar and clutter things up.

Ok, that makes sense.

[Erica]

One thing would be to have a page that uses upvotes and downvotes to prioritize the list based on what people use, and then break it down accordingly.

Other ways would be to scan the documents that dynalist has to see what kinds for formatting people are using and then rank it from there. I don’t know how you could go about it without scaring people, though, even if it’s totally safe and private (technically you guys have access to a lot of stuff as a cloud provider anyway (the same with Google, Facebook, etc.), which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The last one that I thought of is to move the list to where the most used functions, by the user sink below. And if they use something via the menu, then that could be raised to the top so that way can adopt the keyboard shortcut instead.

The first two options seem like overkills, but nevertheless very creative

The last one is definitely very intelligent. Not sure if we have time for that though, sadly

Yeah, I wouldn’t how now to do it without making the shortcuts help section interactive, by having other topics collapsible, etc (like a mini-Dynalist, lol).

I like that! [quote=“JP1, post:4, topic:36”]
Ah, that’s unfortunate. Maybe it could be unlisted? Using a dash would work, too.
[/quote]

Or move custom shortcut out from Pro features so that everyone can customize things. We’ve got so many complaints about how our keyboard shortcuts are set up. But Dynalist is already a little too free right now

No, I meant the WYIWYG menu, but I guess both.

Ah, I see. What I’m imagining is that the menu would automatically pop up when you select text, no right click will be necessary.

That seems pretty neat! Obviously just make sure menu items have tags to support relevant queries, so something like “Make Link” would show up if the terms “hyperlink”, “create link”, etc were entered.

Again I was talking about the node item options, but I guess it could work for the WYSIWYG menu? Not sure about that. Each format should already has its shortcut that are easy to remember (things like Ctrl+B and Ctrl+I), so it might not be necessary.

[JP1]

The first two options seem like overkills, but nevertheless very creative

The last one is definitely very intelligent. Not sure if we have time for that though, sadly

Haha, thank you. I understand.

Or move custom shortcut out from Pro features so that everyone can customize things. We’ve got so many complaints about how our keyboard shortcuts are set up. But Dynalist is already a little too free right now

No, that’s not the problem (said kindly). The problem is that I can’t customize keymaps for things that don’t have something assigned to them, such as the strikethrough. I think Dynalist should keep that a pro feature and agree that it’s plenty free already. That said, I think that they’re fine, even if they take a little getting used to. They do work great for someone who probably has never used them before, and the basic ones are the same. I would suggest that they pay for it, since it’s not necessarily taking away something that they absolutely need. Since the costs of maintaining Dynalist are currently low, with time being the major issue, I would just keep treading slowly like Trello until you could expand to small business (like MailChimp), enterprise (everyone else), or a bundled plan like odrive.

Ah, I see. What I’m imagining is that the menu would automatically pop up when you select text, no right click will be necessary.

Ah, that seems good, and fortunately can be done via keyboard with a little effort.

Again I was talking about the node item options, but I guess it could work for the WYSIWYG menu? Not sure about that. Each format should already has its shortcut that are easy to remember (things like Ctrl+B and Ctrl+I), so it might not be necessary.

Oh, sorry. I was thinking that since that menu can’t be cluttered with buttons, then it can do just about anything, including things the unnecessary. So if you highlighted text and then searched for bold and hit enter, then it would make the text bold. (Even though a keyboard shortcut or wswag menu would be faster.) What I’m envisioning is something like the ctrl+f menu, but with/out the tips (I’ll leave that are your discretion).

[Erica]

No, that’s not the problem (said kindly). The problem is that I can’t customize keymaps for things that don’t have something assigned to them, such as the strikethrough.

Ah, I get it. Yes, some lesser used actions simply don’t have shortcuts right now. That’s a problem for keyboard users.[quote=“JP1, post:6, topic:36”]
What I’m envisioning is something like the ctrl+f menu, but with/out the tips (I’ll leave that are your discretion).
[/quote]

Yeah, something like that. But the options still show up. You can choose to click or filter & hit Enter. As you type, the options are narrowed down to a few and eventually to only one option (ideally). I hope that helps with imagining how it would work.