Firefox - JWM - v4.1 - Alt+Home not working

Forum: X and Fluxbox
Topic: Firefox - JWM - v4.1 - Alt+Home not working
started by: john.martzouco

Posted by john.martzouco on Dec. 23 2007,00:59

The keyboard shortcut Alt+Home is mapped to Go / Home in the Firefox application.

Under the default Fluxbox configuration, this works fine. Under the default v4.1 JWM, it doesn't.

I've commented out all of the .jwmrc Ctrl-key shortcut settings. I've looked carefully at the Alt-key shortcut settings and I don't see any reason why Alt+Home shouldn't be working.

Where else should I look to fix this?

Thanks.

Posted by john.martzouco on Dec. 23 2007,21:50

I commented out the Alt key settings in .jwmrc and it fixed it. It also fixed the Ctrl+A not selecting everything in beaver as well.

Posted by lucky13 on Dec. 26 2007,17:31

It's not a firefox or jwm issue. It's the way JWM hogs whatever your root commands are bound to: if alt, it hogs alt; if ctrl, it hogs ctrl; if you add other keys like a shift, the window manager will lock in anticipation of a root command when you hit the keys associated with it. That's why keybindings are a very personal thing and really shouldn't be included in the base, imo. If you want to use JWM and take advantage of application keybindings, clear out the jwmrc keybindings. If you want to control windows and applications via keyboard, then prepare to lose functionality within the apps.

One way around that is to modify keymaps so you change the function of keys you use less frequently or that duplicate other available strokes (such as rebinding your caps lock as a SUPER or HYPER key and then using that as the jwm root binding) -- but again, that's a personal call. I imagine someone would get ticked off if the blessed caps lock was bound as something else by default and had to hold a shift key to make caps for things like SHOUTING.

Posted by john.martzouco on Dec. 26 2007,19:42

Thanks lucky,

I haven't noticed this behavior with Fluxbox... is that because it doesn't hog the keys?

Posted by lucky13 on Dec. 26 2007,21:53

I don't use fluxbox if I don't have to. Fluxbox plays a little nicer in some ways and allows for more variation in how bindings are configured so that they won't clobber apps' bindings. Fluxbox allows users to set up multiple strokes in a manner like emacs: like using "ctrl-z ctrl-x" to do something instead of those being separate strokes for separate things. I haven't been able to get jwm to do that. OTOH, there are many things I can get jwm to do that would require more configuring in fluxbox (or would require additional utilities). Anyway, if you haven't looked yet:
< http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net/docs/en/newdoc.keybindings.php >

I think part of the difference is jwm kind of marches to the beat of one drummer while fluxbox is based on blackbox and had a separate blackbox utility (bbkeys) to draw from. I don't know if Joe considers it a bug when a key assigned to root menus clobbers everything (use the live CD with its defaults intact, open a terminal window and have it active, then click/hold alt a few times and watch the terminal flicker). JWM isn't the only window manager I've used that does that. I would be a bigger fan of ion if its dictator, I mean developer, weren't so dogmatic about using function keys as defaults and thus force wholesale reconfiguration for anyone who uses apps (especially console apps) that use function keys.

I definitely consider it bad behavior whether jwm is planned to do that or not. Reconfiguring that little glitch is trivial and inconsequential and a personal preference anyway.

Posted by john.martzouco on Dec. 26 2007,23:04

Thanks lucky,

I'm going to leave JWM for my wife and the Guest account but I'm going to switch back to Fluxbox until Joe decides to stop clobbering keys. I can see the advantages of JWM for DSL in general; however, I navigate with the keyboard way too much to live without it behaving properly.

Posted by lucky13 on Dec. 27 2007,02:36

Like I wrote, it doesn't bother me on laptop or desktop. It's all in the way you choose to configure it and/or your keymap. I'm sure you can find a key or two to rebind for HYPER and SUPER and save ctrl and alt for everything else. MyDSL also has utilities xbindkeys and xkeycaps. I should add another one to those.

Edit: I forgot these. JWM is able to do a lot of what these two utilities do (controlling windows via GROUP tags, keymapping, etc.).
< http://www.linux.com/feature/122471 >

Posted by lucky13 on Dec. 29 2007,04:34

SOLUTION: I got to play around with JWM a little more this evening. It's the nextstacked command that clobbers whatever key(s) are bound to it and not the use of root menu keybindings. I changed alt-tab to "next" (which pages through windows in sequential order rather than between previous and current windows and then sequentially if continued) and now I have full use of alt- commands in all apps. JWM isn't evil, but nextstacked is.

EDIT: Ahhhhh... total keyboard control in JWM. This is perfect. I may not go back to ratpoison.

Posted by john.martzouco on Dec. 30 2007,03:37

Thanks lucky,

I've been using JWM with your 'next' fix for the whole day and I think it solves the problem for me.

Posted by roberts on Dec. 30 2007,23:24

Quote (lucky13 @ Dec. 28 2007,20:34)

SOLUTION: I got to play around with JWM a little more this evening. It's the nextstacked command that clobbers whatever key(s) are bound to it and not the use of root menu keybindings. I changed alt-tab to "next" (which pages through windows in sequential order rather than between previous and current windows and then sequentially if continued) and now I have full use of alt- commands in all apps. JWM isn't evil, but nextstacked is.

EDIT: Ahhhhh... total keyboard control in JWM. This is perfect. I may not go back to ratpoison.

Thanks for the update and sharing. I will make adjustment to iso.