As has been mentioned in our chat room and in a couple threads in the forums, our current hotkey for showing and hiding the PortableApps.com Menu when it is running, WIN+P, is already registered in Windows 7, so it can't be used. So, we should need to select a new default hotkey.
I'm thinking WIN+ALT+SPACE. It doesn't interfere with anything at the operating system level on Windows 98 through Windows 7 and it doesn't interfere with any other common programs I know of. And, physically, it's a pretty easy trigger with 3 fingers on the left side of the keyboard with your left hand without much movement. WIN (left ring finger), ALT (left middle finger), SPACE (left pointer finger).
We'll let the hotkey be user customizable as well in an upcoming release, but choosing a solid default should be a priority. I'll set it up in Pre-Release 1 of the 1.6 release so people can try it.
Thoughts?
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I am a Christian and a developer and moderator here.
“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1
Wait but...
I thought no WIN hotkeys could be registered?
It's not the case, I don't think. But we're gonna avoid WIN+X as we could run into it again. WIN+ALT+SPACE is unlikely to be used but still easy to hit.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I wouldn't recommend it. Microsoft reserved all Win+* hotkeys and might use this one some day too.
"Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." Asimov
Yeah, I get your point... since we just ran into this with Windows 7 (and I actually wasn't aware of the MS WIN key restriction)... but I think a 3 key combo is less likely as they're not using any WIN combos with 3 keys that I'm aware of.
The other options are to use something that is used somewhere else in Windows (like Launchy uses ALT-SPACE even though Windows uses this for the control menu in apps) or something that is used somewhere else in some apps (like CTRL-space which is used for auto-completion in some apps). Or to make it something clunky but that is less likely to be used - primarily because it is clunky - like CTRL-ALT-P (which actually IS used in some apps as... 3 of the first 4 hits on Google).
Basically, no matter what you choose, it's gonna run into something somewhere. You only have CTRL, WIN and ALT (or no WIN if you take follow Microsoft's advice, which most apps don't as they let you use WIN) as modifiers and then the available keyboard and millions upon millions of apps that are all using different things... so no matter what you choose is used by something somewhere. WIN-ALT-SPACE seems an unlikely candidate for Microsoft to use. If they do, we can revisit it when Windows 8 lands in 2012 or 2013.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Somebody let me know if this is too much of a stretch, but it makes sense to me.
Last night I was on Google News and an article - Los Angeles Times tech section IIRC, it stands out in my mind - said that a future version of Firefox might gain functionality similar to a current extension called Ubiquity which is still in beta but available for public testing. I installed it, and it's quite clever. It's a command-line interface, that's the best way I can describe it.
If you believe the documentation, the development for making Ubiquity commands is pretty easy. I don't recall what language it uses. But it seems like it would be trivial to make a command to do regular, common tasks, anyway. So maybe there's a way to make a command which calls the menu. It would require Firefox to be running and until the functionality is added to the base Firefox, it would also require the extension be installed, too, at least until whatever version adds the functionality.
But it could work and it'd be interesting.
Is there a hotkey in pre-release 3? I haven't been able to find one, or any reference to one more recent than this thread.
Also, I've been trying to create one with AutoHotKey, but cant get it to work. I was using the info here: http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic66741.html, which works for the program "Everything", but not for PortableApps.com Platform.
If anyone know's how to create a hotkey that will open PortableApps.com Platform from the system tray, please let me know.
Winwas conflicting with something else.Previously known as kAlug.
No. Windows 7 prevents all applications from registering hotkeys with WIN, which was the problem I was trying to get at 2 years ago in my post above.
...it was conflicting with Windows itself
I knew it was related to the system; I just had forgotten what exactly was the issue.
Previously known as kAlug.