Ctrl+B takes over "hide sidebar" shortcut

[alensiljak]

As noted in the title, Ctrl+B takes over "hide sidebar" shortcut, which is one of the most-used shortcuts in VSCode for me. It is also helpful for quickly toggling the document outline.

Is it possible to customize the shortcut for bolding the text to Ctrl+Shift+B, which seems to be standard in other editors?
Thanks again!

[yzhang-gh]

Copied from #88.

[alensiljak]

Fantastic. I find ctrl+shift+b a better option since it is a Build shortcut, which might not be that significant for markdown files. Cheers!

[gandalfsaxe]

Shouldn't a more sensible default be set that doesn't override one of the arguably most important shortcuts in all of VSC?

All of these pairs are available in VSCode without any conflict:

• ⌥⌘B and ⌥⌘I
• ⌃⌘B and ⌃⌘I
• ⇧⌃B and ⇧⌃I

I propose one of the first two since using ⌘ feels more natural coming from ⌘B and ⌘I. Perhaps the best is ⌥⌘B and ⌥⌘I since the latter can be invoked only with the right hand 🤙

[gandalfsaxe]

UPDATE for windows:

On windows, Ctrl+Alt+B is taken up by the rather important Build LaTeX Project from the LaTeX Workshop extension, and Ctrl+Shift+B is Run build task.
But Ctrl+Shift+B is free (at least with the rather extensive set of extensions I have installed).

Both Ctlr+Alt+I and Ctrl+Shift+I is free for italic. I'd suggest Ctrl+Alt+I since it's much better ergonomically on many keyboards when typing it with just the right had.

[gandalfsaxe]

I understand if you don't want to change the rather simple Ctrl+B and Ctrl+I keys that people are used to from most other contexts. However the fact is that people who use VSCode as their markdown editor is very likely to be technically proficient, and most will need to invoke show/hide sidebar frequently.

So they and will have to change the keymap (many perhaps can't be bothered and live with the inconvenience), but my guess is that most would appreciate not having such an important shortcut overriden.

Just my 2 cents :) I can see why advertising the simple CMD+B, CMD+I makes for a simpler story.

[yzhang-gh]

These shortcuts are "inherited" from the common used WYSIWSW softwares (e.g. Word, Typora, Caret).
Personally I think it is quite natural.

Default settings (including keybindings) are always hard choices. Everyone has his/her own preferences.
I am always open to these discussions. Let's leave this issue open to collect more "cents"

[gandalfsaxe]

Yeah I totally understand where you’re coming from. I really wish that Cmd+B wasn’t already taken by something that prominent, because I would’ve accepted it to override most commands. But on a laptop screen I find myself using Cmd+B quite frequently. But as you mention, Cmd B/I are very well established.

I also think it’s reasonable to get more opinions, as I’m actually not so sure myself, what the majority sentiment is on this. Luckily it’s not the biggest big deal since you can change the keys yourself. But of course it’s always good to have the best possible defaults.

[alistair-hmh]

I just wanted to second what @gandalfsaxe said.

I think overriding the behavior of VSCode could be frustrating for users with visual acuity or motion problems.

What if the user is unable to use the mouse?

[gandalfsaxe]

I wouldn't mind it if it was a lesser used shortcut, but Cmd+B is, IMO, a quite essential shortcut.

Here is how I ended up tackling it (if anybody get any better ideas, let me know):

{
    "key": "ctrl+b",
    "command": "markdown.extension.editing.toggleBold",
    "when": "editorTextFocus && !editorReadonly && editorLangId == 'markdown' && isMac"
  },
  {
    "key": "cmd+b",
    "command": "-markdown.extension.editing.toggleBold",
    "when": "editorTextFocus && !editorReadonly && editorLangId == 'markdown'" // FIXME: Windows only when supported (https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/56382)
  },
  {
    "key": "ctrl+shift+alt+b", // NO-GO: ctrl+shift+b Run Build Task, ctrl+alt+b Build LaTeX project, shift+alt+b Toggle Git Code Lens, alt+b Toggle File Blame Annotations
    "command": "markdown.extension.editing.toggleBold",
    "when": "editorTextFocus && !editorReadonly && editorLangId == 'markdown' && isWindows"
  },
  {
    "key": "ctrl+b",
    "command": "-markdown.extension.editing.toggleBold",
    "when": "editorTextFocus && !editorReadonly && editorLangId == 'markdown'" // FIXME: Windows only when supported (https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/56382)
  },
  // toggleItalic: KEY CONFLICT - overwrites expandLineSelection
  {
    "key": "ctrl+i",
    "command": "markdown.extension.editing.toggleItalic",
    "when": "editorTextFocus && !editorReadonly && editorLangId == 'markdown' && isMac"
  },
  {
    "key": "cmd+i",
    "command": "-markdown.extension.editing.toggleItalic",
    "when": "editorTextFocus && !editorReadonly && editorLangId == 'markdown'" // FIXME: Windows only when supported (https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/56382)
  },
  {
    "key": "ctrl+shift+alt+i",
    "command": "markdown.extension.editing.toggleItalic",
    "when": "editorTextFocus && !editorReadonly && editorLangId == 'markdown' && isWindows"
  },
  {
    "key": "ctrl+i",
    "command": "-markdown.extension.editing.toggleItalic",
    "when": "editorTextFocus && !editorReadonly && editorLangId == 'markdown'" // FIXME: Windows only when supported (https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/56382)
  }