Enter should always "OK"

moon69 · Post by **moon69** » Mon Dec 02, 2019 8:24 pm

TL;DR

For some dialogs, pressing Enter key will Confirm/Accept/Save etc., but for many it does not.

What ?

Pressing enter should generally trigger the default action, like Esc is Cancel in most (all?) dialogs currently.

Enter currently doesn't work for example to...

Confirm an error dialog
Create a blueprint on the Blueprint dialog
Confirm changes in Settings
Quit when "game is not saved" dialog

Why ?

Enter for OK has been UI standard for a very long time so most users are familiar with it.
It's particularly frustrating that Enter only works on some dialogs, so it's never clear when it's available or not.
Especially since most dialogs have a highlighted (red, green etc) button that looks like it is the default (Enter) action.

Cheers.

Post by **ssilk** » Sat Dec 07, 2019 10:51 am

On Mac/(some) Linux this isn’t the standard. And now?

coppercoil · Post by **coppercoil** » Sat Dec 07, 2019 12:40 pm

ssilk wrote: ↑Sat Dec 07, 2019 10:51 am On Mac/(some) Linux this isn’t the standard. And now?

I'm just curious: what is the most common behaviour for Enter on Mac?
If Enter on Mac and Linux does not mean "cancel" all the time, I think it is possible to find some acceptable solution for all OS

Post by **ssilk** » Sat Dec 07, 2019 2:51 pm

It normally CMD-(FIRST LETTER OF OPTION).

Well it’s not so that I’m against this suggestion and I think keyboard control of the complete GUI is an important point. Control of requesters belongs to this of course. But I don’t like arguing “because it is so (your favorite OS, your favorite game...) it should be so here”.

I think this depends and takes time to make the right decision.
For example: my favorite DAW (Reason) is not able to control the sequencer view only with keys. Lately I played Factorio and switched to Reason and my fingers want automatically scroll the sequencer with the WASD-keys. I thought for a moment: what a cool idea, complete control like so would feel right. But then I realized what else needs to change also... it’s not so easy.
If you would say “make GUI controllable with keys”, I would say yes. I found some here viewtopic.php?f=80&t=4832 especially viewtopic.php?f=6&t=32518
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coppercoil · Post by **coppercoil** » Sat Dec 07, 2019 10:13 pm

I think meaning of most of the control keys is pretty equal in almost all OS and almost all software (rare exceptions don’t count). Let’s think about Esc, Tab, Home, Page Up etc. Could be expect some behavior for them without any explanations? Yes. I don’t need to read user manual for Esc key. That means, there's "silent" worldwide agreement regarding its purpose. I don't know whether there is some general written standard, but that works de facto for the most of applications, and users have pretty specific expectations about its behavior. UI designer should respect common practice for consistency. I think I can claim Enter means “go ahead” or “got it” for most of the people.
Of course, there may be exceptions, for example "What color you choose?" or "Do you really want to format your disc?", but it's not our topic, is it?

epr · Post by **epr** » Sat Dec 07, 2019 11:03 pm

I agree, it's really annoying when you change some values on combinators or what not and it doesn't confirm with enter.

Post by **ssilk** » Sat Dec 07, 2019 11:09 pm

Page down for example doesn't exists on Mac as extra key.

Or look this: https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/ ... left-right

It depends!

coppercoil · Post by **coppercoil** » Sat Dec 07, 2019 11:23 pm

That’s a good idea: an application should tune to written and non-written standards of particular OS

. I can’t speak about Mac. But I CAN speak about MS Windows

. So, give me the damn Enter key

Post by **ssilk** » Sat Dec 07, 2019 11:59 pm

Here is it...

eradicator · Post by **eradicator** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 9:01 am

+inf

Especially with the nice new visual guidance after the gui redesign i become sad time and time again when i try to confirm the GREEN button.

: thegreenbutton.png (41.61 KiB) Viewed 4617 times

NotRexButCaesar · Post by **NotRexButCaesar** » Sat Aug 01, 2020 1:11 am

When I press enter, It should confirm all green buttons, not some select few. The more keyboard shortcuts there are, the easier, more convenient, and less tedious the game becomes. This feature could be option enabled, if you don't want it for a gameplay reason.

Post by **Koub** » Sat Aug 01, 2020 5:20 am

[Koub] Merged into older topic with same suggestion.

NotRexButCaesar · Post by **NotRexButCaesar** » Sun Aug 02, 2020 7:38 am

even if not all green buttons, at least all the "confirm" buttons. Or at the very absolute least, allow one to tab to the correct button.

Qon · Post by **Qon** » Sun Aug 02, 2020 10:16 am

Yes please!

ssilk wrote: ↑Sat Dec 07, 2019 10:51 am On Mac/(some) Linux this isn’t the standard. And now?

But it is the standard in Factorio for some green buttons, just not all, right? So it's not about OS, it is about consistency and convenience in Factorio.

Post by **ssilk** » Sun Aug 02, 2020 10:16 pm

Well, as long as Factorio isn't supporting control of the UI fully with keyboard, this suggestion is just questionable, because it looks only at one tiny aspect of keyboard controll.

NotRexButCaesar · Post by **NotRexButCaesar** » Mon Aug 03, 2020 7:14 pm

ssilk wrote: ↑Sun Aug 02, 2020 10:16 pm Well, as long as Factorio isn't supporting control of the UI fully with keyboard, this suggestion is just questionable, because it looks only at one tiny aspect of keyboard controll.

what do you mean by "this suggestion is just questionable"?

Post by **ssilk** » Fri Aug 07, 2020 5:39 am

That I ask me, if this is really a useful suggestion, if the rest of UI isn’t able to be completely keyboard driven. The better suggestion is IMHO viewtopic.php?f=80&t=4832 Mouse / Touchscreen / Keyboard only interface

eradicator · Post by **eradicator** » Fri Aug 07, 2020 1:01 pm

ssilk wrote: ↑Fri Aug 07, 2020 5:39 am That I ask me, if this is really a useful suggestion, if the rest of UI isn’t able to be completely keyboard driven. The better suggestion is IMHO viewtopic.php?f=80&t=4832 Mouse / Touchscreen / Keyboard only interface

Adding support to use the same key for all green buttons - instead of only some - is a much more realistic suggestion than "please redo the whole interface".

netmand · Post by **netmand** » Fri Aug 07, 2020 7:53 pm

The "Enter" key on the keyboard is one of the most if not the most non-specific keys on every keyboard and should never be bound to any sort of definition or assumption. Its use is highly contextual and one of the most powerful keys for control and interactivity.

I believe the complaints around the consistency of proceeding through certain windows is valid, but we should never assume that using Enter is or should be the default way to go.

...especially in this game where hitting enter could cause you to jump off a train and maybe to your immediate demise...

NotRexButCaesar · Post by **NotRexButCaesar** » Sat Aug 08, 2020 1:05 am

eradicator wrote: ↑Fri Aug 07, 2020 1:01 pm
ssilk wrote: ↑Fri Aug 07, 2020 5:39 am That I ask me, if this is really a useful suggestion, if the rest of UI isn’t able to be completely keyboard driven. The better suggestion is IMHO viewtopic.php?f=80&t=4832 Mouse / Touchscreen / Keyboard only interface
Adding support to use the same key for all green buttons - instead of only some - is a much more realistic suggestion than "please redo the whole interface".

Sometimes I wonder if these suggestions are just to sabotage the topic.

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