Tab key behavior

[fredck]

Ideally we should uniformize the tab behavior considering the following variations (ordered by priority):

• If FCKConfig.TabSpaces > 0, the configured number of spaces should be inserted in the selection, no matter the cursor position.

• A new setting named BlurOnTab, or something like that, should be created to be able to set the editor to loose the focus when hitting tab, moving to the next field in the form (just like any other form field).

• And finally the default behavior: no action on the text, and possibly reflecting Firefox's behavior for tables on all browsers: TAB and SHIFT+TAB to navigate between cells, or to add a new row if positioned in the last cell. (#775 and #891)

[alfonsoml]

I think that maybe we should have only two behaviors:

1. Using the tab to navigate like another form control
2. Using the tab like it behaves in Word.

(a) means that users can go to the next form element easily, and it could be activated just if TabSpaces == 0. This is important for users that rely only on the keyboard.

(b) I think is what most people expect in a word processor, although we can try to adjust it to behave better in a web environment (doing everything perfect will be difficult)

• Pressing tab in the body with no selection inserts TabSpaces *  
• If a whole paragraph is selected then increase the indent of that paragraph (also, several paragraphs could be selected at the same time)
• If some text is selected inside a paragraph, replace it with TabSpaces *  
• If the selection is inside a table, at the end of a cell, move to the next cell
• If it was the last cell, insert a new row with the same attributes as the previous one.
• If it is in the middle of a cell, insert TabSpaces *  
• If it is at the start of a cell, well, this is the most difficult part to say what's best. It could indent the contents or it can move to the next cell. I would vote for moving to the next cell.
• If the whole content of a cell is selected, move to the next cell.
• If we are at the end of the body then do like (a) and focus the next control in the page.

And doing Shift+Tab should do the reverse navigation when moving in cells or getting out of the control, and if a whole paragraph is selected outdent it.

[fredck]

#1830 has been marked as DUP.

[dustball]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in 2.4, the behavior of TAB inside a bulleted list was to indent and start a sublist.

This has been changed - and is quite unexpected from the user's point-of-view. Even if we set TabSpaces to "0", TAB still doesn't indent.

I understand and appreciate the goal for 2.7, but it seems like in the meantime we have downgraded functionality. Am I missing something?

[fredck]

The list item indentation was a feature proposed by the browser itself. Actually, by Firefox only. In IE you didn't have it.

Also, with Firefox, you were able to apply unlimited indentation to an item, having the buggy <ul><ul><ul> effect.

So, the former behavior was incorrect and not consistent among browsers.

For the 2.5, we have introduced a custom list handling system, aiming to provide the same output with all browsers. Also, the TAB key is now handled by the editor, and the browser has no control of it anymore.

Our intention now is proposing this feature properly, compatible with all browsers.

[w.olchawa]

#910 has been marked as DUP

[w.olchawa]

#891 has been marked as DUP

[dustball]

I believe most users will expect that list items indent when the tab key is pressed. This is how Micrsoft Word works -- and a surprisingly large number of people expect the indent behavior.

Rather then fixing the whole TAB issue alltogether (fixing table behavior), is it possible to just have tab cause an indent? Can we sponsor such a fix? :)

[lelebitt]

Replying to dustball:

I believe most users will expect that list items indent when the tab key is pressed. This is how Micrsoft Word works -- and a surprisingly large number of people expect the indent behavior. Rather then fixing the whole TAB issue alltogether (fixing table behavior), is it possible to just have tab cause an indent? Can we sponsor such a fix? :)

Hi at all, We can have a TAB key that work like a word and not like something that add some spaces setting in fckconfig.js on line FCKConfig.TabSpaces = 0 ;

...

[lmascherpa]

Replying to dustball:

I believe most users will expect that list items indent when the tab key is pressed. This is how Micrsoft Word works -- and a surprisingly large number of people expect the indent behavior. Rather then fixing the whole TAB issue alltogether (fixing table behavior), is it possible to just have tab cause an indent? Can we sponsor such a fix? :)

I did some hack for this problem. If you want to sponsor, feel free. Here is the trick : in fckconfig.js, add some shortcuts to indent and outdent in the keystrokes like :

FCKConfig.Keystrokes = [
	// _ lma: indent fix
	[ 09 /*TAB*/, 'Indent' ],
	[ SHIFT + 09 /*SHIFT+TAB*/, 'Outdent' ],
	// ^ lma: indent fix

[dustball]

Hi there! The fix looks neat, but I think that dramatically changes the behavior (for the worse) of tabs when not in lists. Ident is not a suitable replacement for tab in most circumstances.

[dweekly]

Any update on where we're at with tabbing in tables in CKEditor 3.0? This functionality is very important to our users. As dustball mentioned, PBwiki would be happy to help sponsor work on this.

[fredck]

We already have full support for blur/focus on TAB, as well as the tab spaces feature in V3. We may think about the other features as soon as we have the first stable release public.

[dpbabu]

Replying to fredck:

We already have full support for blur/focus on TAB, as well as the tab spaces feature in V3. We may think about the other features as soon as we have the first stable release public.

Hi fredck,

I am using 2.5.1. I have the same issue(on tab key hit, the cursor should jump out of editor to another element). I tried to use patch 2297.patch for ticket #2297. But still problem persists. Please help me still anything to update or modify.

Thanks in Advance, Prasad.

[arczi]

I don't think it is connected with Java.

Priority is Normal because it is not a critical issue.

As Fred said we may think about this feature as soon as we have the first stable release public.

More info about our ticket system:

 http://dev.fckeditor.net/wiki/TracTickets and  http://dev.fckeditor.net/wiki/TicketLifeCycle