I won't get too involved in this one, but two observations:

• Having to use two hands to perform a shortcut is annoying. Some keyboards do still provide function keys…
• In languages other than English the names are different, so there you won't gain much in terms of this nice-to-remember scheme anyway.

Good points.

One more thing, then I'll leave for real ;) : Looking at Kate and Gwenview, those also toggle UI features with function keys. As long as Dolphin does not provide a Fullscreen mode, F11 is not much of an issue IMO, it's just the way it evolved over the years… If it is ever added, we could move panel hiding to F12 or repurpose the alternative/second shortcut for hidden files (F8).

Regarding your new shortcuts: I thought about adding those in addition to the already existing ones, but that has its quirks too.

Or maybe we could just change the F11 shortcut to F10 or F12 something. That would be simplest, and make room for a future F11 Full Screen feature in Dolphin

Thinking about this for a bit, I tried to come up with a function keys setup which should be more consistent/make more sense (changed ones are marked in italics):

F1: Open Handbook
F2: Rename
F3: Split
F4: Editable Location
F5: Reload
F6: Terminal Panel
F7: Folders Panel
F8: Information Panel
F9: Places Panel
F10: Create Folder (is this really a good idea?)

Why is this a better way?

1. All Panels are grouped together, can be toggled easily
2. Only three changes (Editable Location/Terminal/Information), so existing users do not get confused more than needed
3. We now have the F11 key available if a Full Screen feature would be implemented at some point

Any inputs? I can easily implement these changes if wanted.

Go ahead and submit a patch if you'd like, and we can continue the discussion there. You can add Closes T7894 to the Summary section and it will close this Task if and when it lands.

Don't forget to submit a companion patch to also change the shortcuts in KIO for the open/save dialogs (`kdiroperator.cpp, if memory serves), since many of the shortcuts are replicated there too.

F6: Terminal Panel

I suspect this will annoy quite a bunch of users, because this shortcut has been there in Konqueror-times already.

1. All Panels are grouped together, can be toggled easily

If there is a use case to toggle all panels at the same time (I doubt there is), it should get a dedicated action which users can assign a shortcut to.

2. Only three changes

That isn't a reason to change it, it's an indicator it should not be changed.

3. We now have the F11 key available if a Full Screen feature would be implemented at some point

Again, that's only hypothetical, and there are also other ways to free up F11.

Hmm, I cannot really see the "other way" you are proposing... Do you want to simply change the F11 key, or not change anything at all (as we do not have a Full Screen feature right now)?

In T7894#136394, @xyquadrat wrote:

Hmm, I cannot really see the "other way" you are proposing... Do you want to simply change the F11 key, or not change anything at all (as we do not have a Full Screen feature right now)?

First I commented on the original plan to change the shortcuts to ctrl+alt+*. Nate then chose to keep the task open (not sure why), so now it appears like there is some immediate need to change something. I don't think there is, TBH.

With "other way", I was referring to this:

In T7894#126711, @rkflx wrote:

If it is ever added, we could move panel hiding to F12 or repurpose the alternative/second shortcut for hidden files (F8).

In T7894#136404, @rkflx wrote:

In T7894#136394, @xyquadrat wrote:

Hmm, I cannot really see the "other way" you are proposing... Do you want to simply change the F11 key, or not change anything at all (as we do not have a Full Screen feature right now)?

First I commented on the original plan to change the shortcuts to ctrl+alt+*. Nate then chose to keep the task open (not sure why)

Because the original issue of overloading the F11 key was never resolved. Dolphin may not have a Full Screen mode today, but it may some day, and in general it's not good practice to use standard shortcuts for unrelated functionality.

In T7894#136405, @ngraham wrote:

Because the original issue of overloading the F11 key was never resolved. Dolphin may not have a Full Screen mode today, but it may some day, and in general it's not good practice to use standard shortcuts for unrelated functionality.

I don't disagree ;) Perhaps you should retitle the task to include this, otherwise people will keep proposing to change around all shortcuts.

Given F12 toggles previews in the file dialog, how about moving the information panel to F8? It's kinda annoying for some users who'd now have to switch to Alt+. for toggling hidden files, though, so I'd prefer only doing this if we actually provide something in return, i.e. implement a real fullscreen mode for Dolphin.

Apparently I misunderstood the goal of the task... Anyways, I guess I'll just wait until you made a decision (if the final result would be to change it, I'd do this if someone wants me to).

In T7894#136407, @xyquadrat wrote:

Apparently I misunderstood the goal of the task... Anyways, I guess I'll just wait until you made a decision (if the final result would be to change it, I'd do this if someone wants me to).

I already added my 2 cents, but I'll leave it to @ngraham to decide on whether this needs changing right now or only when the fullscreen mode is actually implemented.