Alt key interferes with work

[Alan Kilborn]

@Tim-Pronin It sounds like you are just mashing at the keyboard; why not slow down before you give yourself Repetitive Strain Injury (probably you’re well on your way to that already, you just don’t know it). Plus, you must make a lot of other mistakes due to super-speed typing–I presume your Backspace key is heavily used.

I seriously doubt the N++ devs would add the ability to disable the Alt key; they’d probably just say that your complaint has its roots in a PBKAC.

[Michael Vincent]

@tim-pronin said in Alt key interferes with work:

The latest update has a very inconvenient feature that highlights menu options while holding Alt.

Are you sure? I believe this is the case for all Windows applications, including Notepad++ all the way back to the beginning:

Notice the underlines on F in ‘File’, E in 'Edit, V in View and T in Tools when I press the Alt key to get a screenshot (Alt+PrtScrn):

Cheers.

[Tim Pronin]

It might be related to the operating system. At work, Windows 7 is installed and perhaps there is too long a response when pressing Alt. At home on Windows 10, I do not notice such a problem.

[Ekopalypse]

@tim-pronin

I have the same behaviour on Windows 7 (my normal operating system) as on Windows 10 (running in a VM).

Can I ask you what you mean by switching the language by pressing the Alt-Shift key? Which languages are you referring to?

[guy038]

Hello, @tim-pronin, @ekopalypse, @alan-kilborn and All,

@ekopalypse :

Not totally sure But I suppose that Tim speak about the Windows default shortcut to switch betwenn two keyboard layouts, on the same laptop/desktop !

Here are 3 screenshoots, from Parameters ( Sorry, but it’s all in French language )

Best Regards,

guy038

[Tim Pronin]

I don’t deny that Alt always brings up the menu) But why does it happen at print time?
I doubt I’m holding Alt when I start typing the next word (it’s rather inconvenient). For some reason, it sees that the Alt key is pressed for quite a long time and when I type a new word, instead I start calling different commands from the menu.
That’s what I mean.
I will explain how I use it. Usually I write some summary from something course about different software. I write the summary itself in my native language (Russian), and the various functions and commands of the programs in English. That’s why I often switch languages.
At the moment of such a switch, a collapse occurs, that instead of typing, I start climbing commands from the menu.
I hope I was able to clarify the situation better :)

[Neil Schipper]

@tim-pronin said:

I will explain how I use it.

But what you wrote isn’t very helpful in regard to your problem. You are communicating with a technical audience that craves clues about what is causing what.

If you change languages 20 or 50 times in a row using your normal typing habits, what happens? Does the bad behavior happen all the time? 20% of the time?

Have you tried carefully observing your normal finger movements in order to get a sense about which key is actuating first, and by how much? This might allow you to train yourself to execute the two-finger motion in a slightly different way so the bad behaviour almost never happens.

All keyboards perform a debounce mostly to avoid registering unintended multiple after-the-first presses, but also to reject extremely short duration presses (signifying electrical noise or an accidental touch). Some computers have a setting that allows you to alter the debounce time. You may need to chase down manufacturer specs for the your keyboard or laptop and learn which/whether keyboard timing control settings exist.

I googled windows 7 control keyboard key press delay debounce control and a lot of stuff came up.

Here’s a guy who reduced his keyboard error rate after doing some research and trying different settings:

https://superuser.com/questions/1296081/change-debounce-time-of-keyboard

[Lee Hogan]

@Lee-Hogan I also having the same problem regarding the typing in a computer. So, we can say that its a common problem facing by the people globally.

[Wester]

Same problem here – I’m studying the software and taking notes in Notepad in both Russian and English, and every time this stupid layout pops up and blocks input. Who even came up with this? The devs of a program whose only purpose is text input didn’t consider that pressing Alt would ruin typing when switching languages? Or did no one think that there are not only Americans but also people who actually use multiple keyboard layouts? And what are all these weirdos even writing here?
“Slow down before you give yourself Repetitive Strain Injury”?
“Train yourself to execute the two-finger motion in a slightly different way”?
“Chase down manufacturer specs for your keyboard”?
Why do they speak as if there’s something wrong with people who type fast and use multiple layouts, and not with the program that has an obvious flaw? Are you guys even okay?

[PeterJones]

@Wester said in Alt key interferes with work:

Same problem here – I’m studying the software and taking notes in Notepad in both Russian and English, and every time this stupid layout pops up and blocks input.

As @Michael-Vincent said 3 years ago, hitting Alt is used as an accelerator to keyboard-access menu bars in almost every win32-api-based Windows application. Include Microsoft’s own notepad.exe.

Who even came up with this?

A small company called Microsoft has been using that feature in their operating system for decades. I am sorry this bothers you.

The devs of a program whose only purpose is text input didn’t consider that pressing Alt would ruin typing when switching languages? Or did no one think that there are not only Americans but also people who actually use multiple keyboard layouts? And what are all these weirdos even writing here?

And then you switch to full on insult mode, being rude to people who had nothing to do with that design decision that happened decades ago. Brilliant, and well argued. (That last sentence was sarcasm, in case you couldn’t tell.)