Navigation and behavioural keys
There navigating and behavioural keys comprise:
| Key | Standard function |
| Tab | Insert Tab |
| Enter | Line break |
| Backspace | Delete precessing character |
| Insert | Toggle insertion mode |
| Delete | Delete successing character |
| Home / End | Jump to begin / end |
| Page up / down | Screen display up / down |
Although there is not much room for improvements, it should be pointed out, what is to be expected what happens, when a certain key is pressed in order to contain a unified behaviour.
Tab
Plain
The tabulator key is used to
- Insert Tab (ASCII 9) (Writer)
- Jump to next cell (Writer, Calc)
- Indent Header
- Jump to next control in a dialog
Shift
Shift – as the key itself shows – inverts the basic function, which means it usually jumps backwards, unindents a header or selects the previous control in a dialog.
Control
Ctrl is usually used to switch documents in a MDI. But this function depends on the operating system, as for example in a standard KDE environment, this key is assigned to switching the workspaces in KDE.
Control and Shift
Like Shift, this modifier usually inverts the underlying basic function, which means it usually switches back a document or workspace.
Suggestion
As Ctrl+Tab switches panes in dialogs, it should do the same in documents with registers. It would be nice, if Ctrl+Tab could switch between sheets in a spreadsheet document and could cycle through the different views in a presentation and the different layers in a drawing document.
Enter
Plain
Enter is used for
- Paragraph line break
- Navigation to the next cell
- Activating the default control in a dialog
- Confirmation
Shift
In Writer and Impress Shift and Enter produce a simple line break in opposite to the paragraph line break. In Calc the same key combination selects the cell above the current cell, even if the content of a cell is altered and should be changed.
Control
Control and Enter produces a page break in Writer, forces a line break in a cell in Calc, while editing the cell and first chooses the elements of a sheet in Impress and afterwards produces a page break too. This behaviour is also not consistent and should be adjusted.
Control and Shift
This combination inserts a column break in a text document. Analogous to this, there should be an equivalent behaviour in spreadsheets and presentations.
Suggestion
Shift and Enter should always produce a simple line break. This means, that the behaviour in Calc should be adjusted accordingly by allowing a line break while editing. If not in edit mode, Shift and Enter can still select the cell above.
The control modifier is expected to produce a "hard" break like a new page in Writer. Therefore it could be suitable to assign something like a page break in Calc too. The behaviour in Impress is logical except the fact, that before inserting a page all the elements of a page are cycled through.
According to the behaviour in text documents, Ctrl+Shift+Enter should produce column breaks in the other documents too.
There is a second "layer" of functionality in spreadsheets, as they differentiate between a normal and an edit mode. Ctrl+Enter should – if pressed in edit mode – fill all the marked cells with the same content. Ctrl+Shift+Enter already creates a matrix formula for the marked cells.
Backspace
Plain
The Backspace deletes the character left to the current cursor position. In spreadsheets it also deletes the content of a cell, if not in edit mode.
Shift
If Shift is pressed in addition to Backspace, it does the same as the plain key or nothing – it depends on the module. As long as there is no nifty idea about what Shift+Backspace could do, it should at least consequently act as the plain key, which means it should also delete.
Control
Ctrl+Backspace deletes all characters to the begin of the word. This is a well known and very useful functionality.
Control and Shift
The result is the same like pressing Ctrl+Backspace. If there will be a better functionality for Shift+Backspace, the behaviour here should also be adjusted.
Suggestion
Backspace is a very basic function and the word wise delition of text is useful. Unless there is a certain demand for a sophisticated meaning of Shift+Backspace, there will be no need to change anything.
Insert
Plain
Insert usually toggles the insertion mode from inserting to overwriting and vice versa.
Shift
Shift and Insert are used to paste information from the clipboard.
Control
Ctrl+Insert copies data to the clipboard.
Control and Shift
There is no general use for this combination and no need to alter this.
Suggestion
There is no need to change the behaviour.
Delete
Plain
Delete acts like Backspace, but acts in the other direction, it deletes the character to the right of the current cursor position.
Shift
Shift+Delete cuts the selected data to the clipboard.
Control
Like the backspace functionality, Ctrl+Delete deletes all data to the end of the word.
Control and Shift
There exists no specific behaviour for this combination.
Suggestion
While the basic functionality is not a matter of change, the behaviour in Calc should be elaborated. It is obvious that Ctrl+Delete is something "more" than Delete. This leads to a model where Delete for example simply deletes the content of a cell, while Ctrl+Delete deletes the content and all commentary, formatting an other information.
Home / End
Plain
The use of Home / End jumps to the start / end, usually the start / end of the line. In Impress' single page view, Home jumps to the first / last page.
Shift
While performing the functionality of a simple key press of End, the data is additionally marked. This doesn't apply to slides.
Control
Ctrl+Home / End jumps to the top left / bottom right element. This is the position in front of the first / behind the last character in a text document, cell A1 / bottom right last used cell in a spreadsheet and should be something like top left / bottom right element in a slide.
Control and Shift
While performing the functionality of a simple key press of End, the data is additionally marked. This doesn't apply to slides.
Suggestion
Home must not jump to the first page of a presentation in Impress. It should if not in edit mode select the most left element of a page, while Ctrl+Home could select the top left element.
If it is really necessary to provide a functionality which navigates to the first slide in a presentation – there is no similar behaviour in a multi-sheet spreadsheet – it should be realized with Page up.
Page up / down
Plain
Page up / down usually scrolls one "screen page" up / down, while keeping a little intersection of one or two rows providing some residual information which allows the user to follow the context. In slides of a presentation Page up flips one page up / down.
Shift
While performing the functionality of the underlying function (without Shift), the data is additionally marked. This doesn't apply to slides.
Control
Ctrl+Page up / down does not have any effect in text or presentation documents, but it moves to the next sheet in a spreadsheet documents. This leaves room for improvements.
Control and Shift
While performing the functionality of the underlying function (without Shift), the data is additionally marked. This doesn't apply to slides.
Suggestion
The functionality of Ctrl+Page up / down should be unified. While it is logical to bind this to "previous / next Slide" in presentation documents, we should introduce a function, which flips to the same position on the previous / next page in a text document.
