[XBoard-devel] Keyboard navigation problem (game list)

[h.g. muller]

A sort of bug surfaced through the JAWS version:

When the game-list widow does not have focus,
the only way to give it focus by the keyboard is first close it
(through the Mode -> Show Game List menu or Alt+Shift+G),
and then re-open it.

The Game-List window is not in the chain of control elements
that you can Tab or Shift+Tab through. It cannot be, because
Tab is needed inside that window to select control elements.
(And the arrows are needed to select an item in some of these
control elements, in partcular the game in the game list itself.)
So it would not be possible to tab out of it, meaning that allowing
to tab into it would break the tab chain.

Would it be sensible to redefine the meaning of the
Mode -> Show Game List menu item (and thus Alt+Shift+G)?
Currently it closes the Game List window when it was open
(pretty strange action anyway for something called "Show" Game List).
We could in stead let it give the game list focus. People could then
use Alt+Shift+G to get to the Game List Window from the board.
To get out they would either close it (Alt+F4) or select a game
(which would transfer focus back to the board window).
Alt+Shift+G would not work to close it when focus is on the
Game List window anyway, as it is an acellerator for the
menu in the main window, only active when the latter has focus.
So closing with Alt+F4 is needed anyway, and it only causes
confusion to allow two different methods.

I guess for mouse users the Mode -> Show Game List menu
would be a very cumbersome way to close it, when they can simply
click the Close button in the sys-menu of the Game-List window itself.
So no big loss there.