All - I'm about to do something rash, and I'd like to ask your advice. (;->) We're considering reversing the functions of the tab and ctrl-tab keys for JTextAreas. Here is the rationale: Tabs are (to my knowledge) almost never used in text areas by users anyway. In the case where they are used to line up proportionally spaced text, they probably shouldn't be. This text may not line up correctly on other systems, and certainly on a printed page. On the other hand, some users use a tab to indent a paragraph. I'm not sure what to say about that. Maybe allowing the use of Ctrl-Tab for this (see below) would be sufficient. Text areas are inconsistent with the other kinds of components in the handling of tab characters. This is a constant source of confusion when the user tries to navigate outside of the text area with the keyboard. Many users (even many of us) have not had the occasion to find out that Ctrl-Tab can be used to do this. Therefore, there is a large number of users who will believe it is impossible to move out of a text area with the keyboard. I believe the use of tab to change focus is much more common than the use to insert a tab character. Therefore, if we do want to provide a tab feature in text areas, one approach would be to switch the functions of the tab and ctrl-tab keys. I consulted the Java Look and Feel Guidelines online: http://java.sun.com/products/jlf/dg/appendix.htm#45515 ... and found information that I believe to be missing and incorrect. It says: "Tab. Moves keyboard focus to the next component or to the first member of the next group of components. "Ctrl-Tab. Moves keyboard focus to the next component or to the first member of a group of components when the current component accepts a tab (as in text fields, tables, and tabbed panes)." However, the Ctrl-Tab description includes text fields when this is not true (it is true of JTextAreas, but not JTextFields.) Also, neither the Tab or Ctrl-Tab keys are included in the tables further down that page that list key actions for the Text Area and the Text Field. So, unless this is fixed in subsequent versions of the Look and Feel, it could be argued that the specification of the tab and ctrl-tab keys is ambiguous. What do you think? Thanks for any feedback. - Keith Bennett _______________________________________________ Advanced-swing mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://eos.dk/mailman/listinfo/advanced-swing
