darktable-org
Keyboard navigation
In Lighttable-previews it is possible to use mouse-click to select an image and shift+mouse-click to select a range and ctrl+mouse-click to select non-adjacent images.
In Darkroom-filmstrip. It is possible to do the same but to preview an image requires a double click
In neither context does the keyboard allow equivalent behaviour. In Darkroom, the arrows control panning - I suggest easier navigation would be to use the mouse-wheel to zoom in and out, using the mouse cursor position as the zoom centre reference point
In Lighttable-previews, I would expect Shift+left or right arrow to extend or contract the selected images. Arrow to move to a new potential selection and Ctrl+space or Ctrl+enter adds that image to the selection
In Darktable-filmstrip, I would expect Shift+left or right arrow to extend or contract the selected images, so settings can be applied in batch. The ability to use a key to increment or decrement the current image displayed seems to be missing and I think is a major omission. Certainly, if you implement the mouse wheel zoom I suggested above , it would free up the arrow keys for this capability, though on-adjacent selection may prove more difficult where the arrow keys are committed as suggested but a bit of collective brainstorming/prototyping is likely to generate a workable solution.
Describe the solution you'd like
Alternatives
Additional context
Darkroom uses space bar and backspace to move to next/previous image since the arrow keys are already assigned to panning the center image while zoomed in when no slider is selected.
H for accessing the shortcuts list is welcome but while I did see space for fwd, the list is difficult to parse because there doesn't seem to be any logic and it is very busy, and backspace is buried far away from the space shortcut it should be next to. Personally I'd prefer to use the arrow keys (and assign arrow keys with a modifier for pan), as they are more intuitive than space and backspace - which I associate with deletion. It would be interesting to investigate/understand which of these competing use case (pan image vs increment/decrement filmstrip) is the more common usage?
One useful action could be to revise the shortcuts view to format it in a way that improves its usability - one easy edit might be to sort by the action column, to categorise the shortcuts a bit better, or have explicit categories and an index for each shortcut that works like tab order in html, so each shortcut can be accurately and logically positioned in the categorised list
Have you see the great work Christian is doing here? https://discuss.pixls.us/t/darktable-shortcuts-viewer/54004/53?u=blabberlicious
I'm dyslexic, In all honesty, the way the shortcuts are organised in the editor, and on the Accelerations (H) key make them very difficult to visually parse. The html editor above saved my life!
more intuitive than space and backspace
"The only intuitive interface is the nipple. All others are learned." (too lazy atm to look up who it's attributed to)
Every single image and document viewer I use uses space/backspace for next/previous image/page.... (so for me, arrow keys are the "unintuitive" interface) This is not just a Linux thing, Irfanview on Windows also uses space/backspace.
"The only intuitive interface is the nipple. All others are learned."
🤣