I’m game, bring it on. I do C, C++, PHP, 808xx ASM, Pascal, Object Pascal, and a few other languages, but I’m afraid I don’t do “GoLang”. But I’ll be happy to contribute in any which way I can. And of course, feel free to share the idea with anyone else. If someone finds a hole in the logic, the idea will end up that much better in the end.
Any news on this? It’d be nice to get it going.
Sorry @joho68 for keeping you “in the dark”.
I’ve been thinking about this some more and have discussed with a few people on the Mattermost side. In general the feedback is receptive and people are open to the idea.
However, the key question that comes up is “why not use slash commands”, which is already readily available and widely used in other services like HipChat, Slack, etc.
For controlling everyday actions like replying and deleting posts will be slightly less obvious using the META key (e.g. which post is it deleting? Or replying to?)
I still do think this could be a great improvement, but I suppose I’m not 100% convinced it’s the “better” way to go over slash commands.
Any thoughts? Would love to hear your feedback
In my opinion, the META key, IMHO, can replace or be used alongside keyboard commands. The original idea is to “not run out of shortcuts”, but still provide keyboard shortcuts. The reason an initial key is used is to “not run into trouble with OS and browsers”. The reason we split it up is to allow for “command families”. With slash commands I don’t see this “streamlined logic”. Everything you do with a META command should have the current input box as the logical starting point. If it has no function in the input box, then it can / should never affect another message.So META m r replies to the current message / post. Always. No exception. I really do not wish to type /reply to accomplish that. And at all costs, “clicking on sh*t” should be avoided!
About existing up
shortcut
I disagree with @VertigoRay and @joho68 on this point: I’m from an old Slack (we choose Mattermost after some months using Slack and we migrate), and I really like to use up
to edit my previous message (it’s really useful to correct typos). If Mattermost change this shortcut, I think there is a risk that you can lost users coming from Slack.
I think it’s a Linux user’s habit, because with up
in a terminal, you can reach the previous commands. I’m not sure that casual users would use up
to repeat what they was saying So here, for me, the question is: what type of users are targeted with Mattermost?
About “meta-mode”
Exactly!
Yep, it would avoid a lot of conflict and “Hey, you could do this!” “Awh no, in Chrome on Windows, this shortcut is taken…”.
About which key to trigger the “meta mode”
I agree with @VertigoRay and @joho68 about the esc
key.
I also like this option!
About behavior of “meta mode”
I think it’s a good idea!
I agree, that sounds great!
About /
commands
“Meta mode” for me is not here to “replace” /
commands but to make it quicker to do something than tap /a long command with a lot of parameters
.
I think that if an action is available at “meta mode”, it should have a dedicated command. It will allow mobile users to do it
But I think the reverse doesn’t have to be: if a command exists, it doesn’t have to be present in the “meta mode”.
About /r
command suggestion
I think that /r <id of the message -like its hyperlink-> <answer>
would be nice. The id could be automatically added in the following scenario:
- user write
/r
- Mattermost displays a combo-box containing previous posts
- user use mouse or
up
/down
thenenter
keys to select the message her/him want to answer - Mattermost write the id of the message right after the
/r
in the text box - user can write the answer and tap
enter
to send it.
About the existing
I agree with that!
Thanks all!
@joho68 @VertigoRay @DarckCrystale I’ve added a proposal for the META-key in a Google doc that I’ve been working on for keyboard shortcuts and slash commands:
The doc should be open to everyone so feel free to add notes and comments.
I’m planning to post the spec for review tomorrow in our Spec Reviews channel.
I’ve added some comments. I didn’t see the “Comments” functionality until I had started editing the text, my apologies. I’ve prefixed my changes with @joho68.
Thanks @joho68! Posted for review, we should get some feedback on it later this week (most are out today for a statutory holiday): https://pre-release.mattermost.com/core/pl/su473qkswiy8jpe7ypmnoxmx5y