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[Bug 1113420] Re: Alt+<key> window menu shortcuts cannot be disabled

 

** Description changed:

  I find the <alt> key ergonomically very useful (it can be pressed with a
  thumb without moving any of the "letter" fingers) and I would like to
  use it for many custom keyboard shortcuts (there is a reason why it
  plays such a big role in Emacs and the whole OS X for that matter).
  
  Currently, though, <alt> is hardcoded to activate window menu entries
  (such as <alt>+F for the file menu, <alt>+E for the edit menu) and there
  is no way to surpass this functionality in all the applications.
  Personally, I find these shortcuts quite useless - they take you to
  "copy", "paste", and "open file" which have standard shortcuts anyway
  (with the exception of preferences, which for some reason don't have a
  standardized shortcut even though that's often the only thing a person
  looks for up there).
  
  Expected behaviour
  -----------------------------
  
- What I would like to see is a global option to disable these alt+<key> menu shortcuts to free up the <alt> key for other uses (similar to the option already available in gnome-terminal, only global). Preferably, activating this option would also remove the first-letter underlining in the menu to indicate to users that they can't acess it through shortcuts. 
-  
- (I marked nautilus for apport to collect my version numbers, but this affects most applications - didn't know what the right target is)
+ What I would like to see is a global option to disable these alt+<key>
+ menu shortcuts to free up the <alt> key for other uses (similar to the
+ option already available in gnome-terminal, only global). Preferably,
+ activating this option would also remove the first-letter underlining in
+ the menu to indicate to users that they can't acess it through
+ shortcuts.
+ 
+ To reproduce:
+ -----------------------------
+ 
+ - in Unity settings -> keyboard -> Shortcuts -> Launchers change the "Launch terminal" shortcut to ALT+T
+ - hit <alt>-t, new terminial pops up
+ - start Thunderbird or Okular, both of which have a "Tools" menu
+ - note <alt>-t now opens the Tools menu
+ - kill the application
+ - hit <alt>-t, nothing happens
+ 
+ (I marked nautilus for apport to collect my version numbers, but this
+ affects most applications - didn't know what the right target is)
  
  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
  Package: nautilus 1:3.5.90.really.3.4.2-0ubuntu4.1
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-23.35-generic 3.5.7.2
  Uname: Linux 3.5.0-23-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu10
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Sat Feb  2 13:22:32 2013
  ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/nautilus
  GsettingsChanges:
-  b'org.gnome.nautilus.window-state' b'geometry' b"'931x626+1+80'"
-  b'org.gnome.nautilus.window-state' b'start-with-status-bar' b'true'
+  b'org.gnome.nautilus.window-state' b'geometry' b"'931x626+1+80'"
+  b'org.gnome.nautilus.window-state' b'start-with-status-bar' b'true'
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-10-19 (106 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Release amd64 (20121017.5)
  MarkForUpload: True
  SourcePackage: nautilus
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1113420

Title:
  Alt+<key> window menu shortcuts cannot be disabled

Status in Unity:
  Confirmed
Status in nautilus package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in unity package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  I find the <alt> key ergonomically very useful (it can be pressed with
  a thumb without moving any of the "letter" fingers) and I would like
  to use it for many custom keyboard shortcuts (there is a reason why it
  plays such a big role in Emacs and the whole OS X for that matter).

  Currently, though, <alt> is hardcoded to activate window menu entries
  (such as <alt>+F for the file menu, <alt>+E for the edit menu) and
  there is no way to surpass this functionality in all the applications.
  Personally, I find these shortcuts quite useless - they take you to
  "copy", "paste", and "open file" which have standard shortcuts anyway
  (with the exception of preferences, which for some reason don't have a
  standardized shortcut even though that's often the only thing a person
  looks for up there).

  Expected behaviour
  -----------------------------

  What I would like to see is a global option to disable these alt+<key>
  menu shortcuts to free up the <alt> key for other uses (similar to the
  option already available in gnome-terminal, only global). Preferably,
  activating this option would also remove the first-letter underlining
  in the menu to indicate to users that they can't acess it through
  shortcuts.

  To reproduce:
  -----------------------------

  - in Unity settings -> keyboard -> Shortcuts -> Launchers change the "Launch terminal" shortcut to ALT+T
  - hit <alt>-t, new terminial pops up
  - start Thunderbird or Okular, both of which have a "Tools" menu
  - note <alt>-t now opens the Tools menu
  - kill the application
  - hit <alt>-t, nothing happens

  (I marked nautilus for apport to collect my version numbers, but this
  affects most applications - didn't know what the right target is)

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
  Package: nautilus 1:3.5.90.really.3.4.2-0ubuntu4.1
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-23.35-generic 3.5.7.2
  Uname: Linux 3.5.0-23-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu10
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Sat Feb  2 13:22:32 2013
  ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/nautilus
  GsettingsChanges:
   b'org.gnome.nautilus.window-state' b'geometry' b"'931x626+1+80'"
   b'org.gnome.nautilus.window-state' b'start-with-status-bar' b'true'
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-10-19 (106 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Release amd64 (20121017.5)
  MarkForUpload: True
  SourcePackage: nautilus
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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