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Why are all the shortcut keys on my main menu in Chrome disabled?

I'm doing extensive debugging, and instead of the convenience of Ctrl + Shift + J for the JavaScript console I always have to go through the menu. The only extension I'm running is the Web Developer extension, but disabling it does nothing for the shortcut key problem.

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@Gareth, please explain how "I am only running the Web Developer extension" significantly differs from "The only extension I'm running is the Web Developer extension". Makes me wonder how you get your points around here. –  ProfK Jul 21 '11 at 7:41
the main edit was a spelling correction. –  8088 Jul 21 '11 at 7:42
Yes, thanks, and for that you do deserve the points. Sorry, I was a bit hasty, but too late to edit my comment. –  ProfK Jul 21 '11 at 7:47
it's fine :) There aren't any points anyway for edits, I just do it to try and improve questions/answers. Very minor in this case. –  8088 Jul 21 '11 at 8:14
@ProfKaos, do other hotkeys work in Chrome? For example does Alt-E open the Wrench menu or Alt-D|Ctrl-L focus the Omnibar? –  Synetech Jul 24 '11 at 7:43
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1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Hotkeys obviously won’t work if the menu is open. Once the menu is open, you have to press the corresponding accelerator key to access the menu items. If you don’t know the accelerators, open the Wrench menu by pressing Alt+E instead of clicking on it; the accelerators will be underlined (eg for Options, it is ‘O’; for the JavaScript console, it is ‘L’ for the Tools submenu, then ‘J’).

The hotkeys you are asking about have no meaning in the menu. How would you focus the Omnibar when the menu has none? How would open the DevTools/JS Console for the menu? How would Ctrl+U makes sense to view the source code of the Wrench menu? Those keys only apply to browser windows/tabs. When you open the menu, you switch from the context of tab, to the context of the menu.

Close the Wrench menu and the hotkeys will work for the currently active tab.

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Wow, I couldn't see the hotkeys for the menu. Normally such hotkeys don't appear disabled in a menu unless they are properly disabled. Thanks anyway, it's huge help. –  ProfK Jul 25 '11 at 7:21
I’m not sure what you mean. The accelerator keys are only underlined if you use the keyboard to open the Wrench menu, not if you used the mouse. As for hotkeys, like I said, they have no meaning in the menu, so they don’t work in the menu, only in browser windows/tabs. –  Synetech Jul 25 '11 at 7:27
My issue, now that you answered my original question, is not whether the hoykeys work or not, but that they always appear greyed out. In a UI that normally indicates that something is disabled. The hotkeys in the Wrench menu are always greyed out, whatever route I take to open the menu. –  ProfK Jul 25 '11 at 19:49
That’s just because the Chromium devs have no designers and/or no experience with UIs. The hotkeys listed are always grey and do not reflect whether or not they are disabled. Also note that the actual menu item (ie, the text) is not grey, only the corresponding hotkey. Feel free to submit a bug-report to request that they fall in line with accepted UI standards and user expectations. –  Synetech Jul 26 '11 at 0:38
I think you got it on the head with the lack of designers and/or UI smarts, or they just neglected a seldom used menu. The rest of the UI is quite nice to me. I am logging a bug report now. –  ProfK Jul 26 '11 at 6:22
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