I open the batch action dialog with Ctrl-Cmd-B, and it is pre-filled with the last action – good. Now I simply press return to start the action and close the dialog. Nothing happens – not so good. I have to use the mouse to click on OK although that seems to be the default action. Shouldn’t return trigger that?
Edit: I now see that this might be related to the fact that the input field is still active. Which, in my opinion, it should not be when I open the batch dialog. There’s no reason for it to have the focus unless the user activated it by tabbing to or clicking on it.
Worse: Even if I click in the text field to deselect it and close the dialog, the field is focused again when the dialog is opened next time. Also, clicking in the text field to deselect it and then pressing return does not trigger the OK action, it simply inserts a space in the text field (me pressing return, it inserting a space? where does that come from?)
Actually that’s intentional so that it’s possible to immediately change the actions without having to activate anything. To easily apply frequently used actions again a smart rule without actions and triggered on demand is actually recommended.
I must admit that I have stopped reading Apple’s UI guides a long time ago. But having a text field repeatedly selected without user interaction seems like unexpected behavior to me. Similar to an OK button not being triggered by the return key. That’s what a default button is for, me thinks.
Also, having the text field selected does not help if I want to “change the actions”: I still have to click into the field anyway to position the text cursor. Which would move the focus to the field as well.
Well, obviously depends on the intended modification. I guess I never positioned the text cursor that way. The field has the focus, therefore the arrow keys are fine for me.
Anyway, the next release will improve this and Return/Enter will confirm the smart group/rule or batch processing panel unless a tag still needs autocompletion. In this case pressing Return/Enter a second time is necessary.
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