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I really hate pages that take control of the keyboard like this.

Your website isn't so special to completely change how I use my browser.

It might be okay for a game, but in every other case, if my regular bindings don't work, I leave.



But I think that's the right solution.

For most websites, I will leave. But for web "apps" like Google Docs, or GMail, or my company's internal apps, I want to use application-style keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl+S and Ctrl+T and Ctrl+N. I want Ctrl+N to create a new document inside my application, not a new browser window.

The best solution would be to ask users to give permission to a webpage to overwrite native keyboard shortcuts for their own uses.


Agree, probably the best example where it's okay to offer 'tip' type dialogs on opening the app "We've setup keyboard shortcuts for you, would you like to use them? (examples)". (Saving preferences for future visits).


Great point on using shortcuts on web apps. After a while I forget they on the web and start using shortcuts. This support is welcome.

Great app, project page and effort.


I second that. I mapped a specific trackpad gesture to 'Command-W' (using BetterTouchTools). Now when I perform my crazy gesture on pages like http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=hello or http://try.github.com/levels/1/challenges/1 , it prints a 'w' in the text bar instead of closing the tab. It really bothers me.

It has legitimate uses though, I'm not saying it shouldn't be used. But please use it only where it makes sense.


The thing is, this isn't a problem space that's unique to web apps. I find nothing more frustrating than native OS X apps that bind over system-wide shortcuts (I'm looking at you, Adobe products). Web apps have a slightly trickier turf to navigate due to also having to watch out for web browser default shortcuts, but that doesn't suddenly make the problem unsolvable.

The problem isn't that keyboard shortcuts for web apps are inherently bad. The problem is application designers who choose their keyboard shortcuts poorly.


On the other hand, this is crucial for things like javascript terminal emulators (which are nice for avoiding the long load time of a java terminal emulator).


I agree. Overwriting the close tab and next/previous tab shortcuts causes me a lot of frustration. Thankfully few webpages do it.




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