Ctrl / Alt / Shift / Space Combo for navigation

[Davidmonten]

Hi guys, thank you for reading this.

I would ask you to consider a very smart and intuitive way to navigate the canvas.
Illustrator (and also Photoshop with some minor difference) uses the modifier keys Ctrl, Alt, Shift and Space in combination to activate or deactivate certain tools.
This solution is very useful and super fast because you do not need to move your fingers over the keyboards and you do not need to hit a key twice to activate/deactivate a tool, but with just 4 keys you can access to all the navigation tools, like pan, zoom, select, and so on.

You probably already know what I'm referring about, but I'll add a list of the most common combos (please note that being a combo means also to hold them together while using the tool):

Ctrl = Object Selection (or, if Object Selection is active, it triggers Element Selection)
Ctrl + Space = Zoom In
Ctrl + Space + Alt = Zoom Out
Alt = Drag Copy (also after clicking for drag, atm it works just before)

If you have to deal with conflicts among other shortcuts, like combos already used for other functions, please contact me and I'll be happy to deal with it.

Finding the same interface as the most popular software would have many advantages:
- reduce frustration and improve experience using the software
- reduce adoption time
- triggers interoperability between software (so you can use the same habits while switching from one sw to another...yes, someone still does)
- uses a model already spread and tested, based on years of experience

I totally understand that this is another software and it's normal to not expect to find the same stuff of the competitors, but this is not the kind of thing that makes AD positively different from its competitors (imho of course); making the transition from one software to another as smooth as possible for as many users as possible I think is more valuable.

I and a bunch of other folks would really love to find these combos in the next updates.

Thank you for your attention.

p.s.
dear reader of this topic,
please, add here other combos that you would like to have in the future.

 

[MEB]

Hi Davidmonten,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Thank you for your feedback. This subject has already been brought to our attention by other users/on other threads. As explained there we are not necessarily looking to clone/match features/workflows from other programs. The shortcuts we use actually were chosen to facilitate the workflow in Affinity apps (specific needs/features) primarily and only then to facilitate transition from other apps (using known/used shortcuts) whenever possible. Changing them at this point would create a lot of conflicts (not only in one but on all apps of the suite),  cause trouble to existing users, would imply to change all documentation, published books, etc. For those reasons it's unlikely there will be significative changes here.

[Davidmonten]

Hi MEB,
thank you for your answer and sorry if I've not searched deeper to find the topic already published.

May I ask you to dive a bit deeper on this?

Quote

The shortcuts we use actually were chosen to facilitate the workflow in Affinity apps (specific needs/features) primarily

Having a better understanding of the principle behind this piece of interaction may help to use it in a more effective way.
If this request has been already issued I would kindly ask you to link one (or more) reference.

Thank you in advance.

*edit*
I just noticed the link in your signature.
there I've found this pdf, it looks one of the main references I was asking for.
I'll have a better gaze at it. Any further info will be more than welcomed

See you around

[MEB]

Hi Davidmonten,
Please check this link instead for the most up to date version/related info.

[Davidmonten]

Thank you.