PhotoLine Custom Keyboard Layout Project

[shijan]

PhotoLine have very nice Keyboard Layout editor, but original Keyboard Layout is very far from perfect. I mostly used only basic keys modifications to match logic of other image and video editors, but some time ago decide to build more advanced "full sized" Custom Keyboard Layout.

Global Logic:
"Keys" for Tools and Helpers.
"Command + Keys" for most common basic operations.
"Alt + Keys" for Layer operations and Adjustment filters.
"Alt + Numbers" for Panel Lists.
"Command + Alt + Keys" for Document operations.
"Command + Shift + Keys" for additional operations and Text manipulation.
"Command + Numbers" for Zoom operations.
"Alt + Shift + Keys" for extra additional operations and Page operations.
"Function" and other light gray colored keys are unmapped and optionally could be used for any additional tools of filters you like.
Some keys are duplicated. For example it is possible to "Redo" with "⌘ Shift Z" or "⌘ Alt Z"

In the first image keyboard illustrates keys used for Tools and Helpers. Keys logical groups separated by color. Red color represents keys reserved by system or by PhotoLine. Green color for Helpers. Violet and Dark Gray for Tools.

It is close to final development, so feel free to test it and add any ideas or notices. Later i will release keys preset as a part of my Custom Icons Set package. Same layout preset seems works well on macOS and Windows.
Attached archive includes keyboard preset "PL Custom Keyboard Layout Beta-1.xml" and reference chart "PL Custom Keyboard Layout Chart Beta-1" in .RTF and .HTML formats.

Installation:
Make sure you backup your original keyboard layout in "Preferences -> Usage -> Keyboard Layout -> Save..."
Apply customized keyboard layout "PL Custom Keyboard Layout.xml" in "Preferences -> Usage -> Keyboard Layout -> Load..."
For this Keyboard Layout it is recommended to setup custom zoom sizes from 100% to 900% in "Preferences -> Usage -> Zoom Fix"


Beta 2
Download here:

PL_Custom_Keyboard_Layout_Beta-2.zip

Here is also additional explanation from Martin Huber about hotkeys hardcoded to PhotoLine:
- Page up/down: For single-page document: scroll up/down, multi-page: previous/next page
- Ctrl-Page up/down (Windows), Cmd+Page up/down (macOS): previous/next page
- Esc: Switch to Layer tool or back to the original one
- Space: Scroll document content

Aside from that, various tools use other keys, mostly the arrow keys, Return or Enter, Delete or Backspace and Tab:
- Layer tool, arrow keys
* with or without Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (macOS): Move layer
* with Shift with or without Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (macOS): Scale layer
* Alt with or without Shift: Rotate layer
* Alt and 3D Body: Rotate 3D Body
- Layer tool, Return: Enter group
- The painting tools use the arrow keys to change the brush size/hardness/angle
- Automatic Lasso: Arrow up/down change tolerance
- The Crop tool and the Lasso tools use Tab to switch the ratio
- The Vector tools use Tab to select the next/previous (Shift) point

The text edit tool has a few shortcuts to enter special characters:
- Ctrl+Minus: optional hyphenation
- Ctrl+Return: page feed
- Alt+Return: form feed
- Shift+Return: soft return
- Shift+Space and Ctrl+Space (Windows) or Cmd+Space (macOS): fix space
- Alt+arrow keys (Windows), Ctrl+arrow keys (macOS): modify character spacing or distance to baseline
- Ctrl+arrow left/right (Windows), Alt+arrow left/right (macOS): move cursor wordwise
- Ctrl+Backspace (Windows), Alt+Backspace (macOS): Delete to the beginning of the word
- Ctrl+Delete (Windows), Alt+Delete (macOS): Delete to the end of the word

[gennadiy]

A very complex scheme.
I chose a different path for myself, we take the PL scheme as a basis, and rearrange the keys we need for ourselves.

[shijan]

beta 1.1
- added additional reference chart in .HTML format, so you can open it directly in web browser.

[shijan]

Tool Icons added to example keyboard image in first post.

[Hoogo]

In 2008 we had a thread to create new keyboard shortcuts. At that time, it was a topic to be compatible with PS, previous versions and such stuff, I have even seen Win 3.11 on a quick check now... In the end it's all a compromise, but maybe you find some additional thoughts in that thread.

2 things I remember:
- Adjacent keys for all the vector tools
- German keyboard layout has YZ swapped, making Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Y rather hilarious on English layout.

[PhilM]

What about French and Belgian AZERTY keyboards ... where punctuation is also different ?

[shijan]

Hoogo, That's really interesting. Guess those people who use those keyboards may modify things somehow, like map Command Y instead of Command Z for Undo. I personally never seen keyboards like those before and can't provide support for those keyboards.
My personal compatibility problem is that my PC keyboard don't have "Alt" on the right side, so i can't use a lot of combinations with one hand.

Now i read that 10 years old thread and it all looks very fragmented. Some ideas here and there for some keys but no global picture. Have no idea why don't you created a chart that allow to see all key combos together and see how they flow...

I like the idea to use Shift as modifier in some situations. For example "Shift F" for Fullscreen mode toggle looks way easier than classic macOS keys combo. Also some apps already use Shift + - to scroll Blend Modes, so that key is more less usable. So i can add "Shift" column into chart in future.
Is it safe to use "Shift" modifier? Is there some limitations or risks for this key in PhotoLine?

I personally prefer stay away of triple key modifier combos (something like Command Alt Shift S). They are very hard to remember and not comfortable to use.

On macOS it is possible to use "Control" key as single modifier. But i guess in Windows "Window" key may not work in same way. I can't test it for sure because on my virtual machine key modifiers don't work normally with PhotoLine (this is known problem reported earlier by multiple people)

Also to make some key combos look prettier in menus i edited manually XML file and add duplicated commands. For example for "Zoom In" you can see in menu "Command +" instead of original looking "Command =" Hope this visual hack will not break things...

"Space" key used as "Show Image" command in Browse. This emulates macOS QuickLook function, but to close image you need to press "Esc" key.

[shijan]

Changed "Command Shift" modifier to "Shift". Tested few days and it feels very nice and quick.
"Redo", "FullScreen" and "Save As" still can use "Command Shift" as well as "Shift".
Updated chart and attachment in first post.

[shijan]

beta 3
"⌘ Shift" now used for Document level, because Shift key is wider and looks similar to wide Document icon in my custom icons set.
"⌘ Alt" used for Page level.

So all used key modifiers are simple and easy to remember:
"⌘"
"Alt"
"Shift"
"⌘ Alt"
"⌘ Shift"

Small Problem: Logical conflict with "⌘ Shift S" used for "Scale Document" instead of default system "Save As" command.

Download here:

PL_Custom_Keyboard_Layout_Beta-3.zip

[shijan]

beta 4
Changed text align keys.
Download here:

PL_Custom_Keyboard_Layout_Beta-4.zip

[shijan]

beta 5
Improved Layers manipulation keys:

⌘ Home Bring to Front
⌘ End Send to Back
⌘ Page Up Bring Forward
⌘ Page Down Bring Backward

Alt Home Activate Last Layer
Alt End Activate First Layer
Alt Page Up Activate Next Layer
Alt Page Down Activate Previous Layer

Shift Page Up Add Next Layer to Selection
Shift Page Down Add Prev. Layer to Selection

Download here:

PL_Custom_Keyboard_Layout_Beta-5.zip