Suggestion for Send documentation page to be more helpful to casual users arriving from Google.

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sssheridan
Posts: 9
Joined: 18 Dec 2019, 05:31

Suggestion for Send documentation page to be more helpful to casual users arriving from Google.

Post by sssheridan » 10 Sep 2021, 03:20

I imagine I'm a typical AHK user: I've been using AHK for years, but I don't have a great understanding of AHK syntax; about once a year, I want to remap a few key combinations, so I figure it out. (I doubt I need to defend such users in this subforum, but remember that the tagline on autohotkey.com promises "Easy to learn" -- with love and respect to every AHK developer, I do like it when I can solve AHK problems without having to (re)learn syntax.)

With that in mind, here's my suggestion: at https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/commands/Send.htm , where I often land from Google, make it clear where Send fits into typical syntax:

1) At the top, provide a usage example:
Abstract:

Code: Select all

Hotkey::Send Keys
and concrete:

Code: Select all

CapsLock::Send {Ctrl}
The reason for this is straightforward: a) it makes this page much easier to use for a user like me, and b) it frames this page as talking about *all the stuff to the right of the :: . Which leads me to:

2) Add a caution like the one in this tutorial: https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/Tutorial.htm#s3
Caution: This table does not apply to hotkeys. Meaning, you do not wrap Ctrl or Enter (or any other key) inside curly brackets when making a hotkey.
(This warning was helpful to me in two ways! a) I had made exactly that mistake: this was my first time using RWin instead of #. b) To me, a "hotkey" refers to the entire remapping (e.g. "I have a hotkey mapping CapsLock to Ctrl"); this caution also taught me that in AHK vocabulary, a "hotkey" is the bit on the left of the ::.)

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