a little fireworks CS3 bug

Well in my opinion incorrect user-interface behaviour rather than a bug. I just used Adobe’s report a bug form, but ironically my Safari crashed when I hit the submit button, so I’ve currently got no idea if this went forward.

The issue concerned is not new and not really a big deal, but I just had to process a pile of images and it bit me so many times I had to get it out of my system by writing about it…

The interpretation of the tab key within the properties panel for certain selected tools is in my opinion incorrect and is inconsistent with established convention.

Example 1: Marquee tool selected:

1. Set the style to Fixed Ratio or Fixed size
2. Double-click the marquee width property
3. Type with desired width.
4. Hit tab

At this point I’d expect the focus to tab across to the Marquee height property. But it doesn’t. It sets the focus on the marquee width property and selects it. I need to hit Tab a second time to get to the height property.

I’ve been caught by this so many times. It is impossible to learn to accommodate to this odd behaviour because in every other application I have ever used, tab takes focus to the next input field.

Example 2 : Eraser tool selected:

This shows more clearly the logic which has been implemented.

1. Double-click the value of the Size property
2. Type a new value
3. Hit tab

Again, instead of tabbing to the next input field (Edge) the focus remains at the Size property – value selected.

4. Double-click the Edge property
5. Type a new value
6. Hit tab

At this point instead of tabbing to the next field (Opacity), you tab back to the Size property!

In summary, it seems the implemented behaviour is that the first use of tab within a field-set of the properties panel always tabs to the first item of that field-set, the tab sequence is thereafter obeyed until you leave the field-set. I feel the behaviour should always be to tab from the current field to the next.

I’m a programmer rather than graphics dude and I use Fireworks infrequently. So many times I’ve typed a width, tab, then a height only to find I’ve just overwritten the width with the height – no big deal – but a tad annoying!