Ability to edit keybindings and contextual mouse behaviors
Will Kommor
It would be a huge upgrade to the entire Descript experience (and probably kill a lot of minor QoL feature requests) if we could customize keyboard shortcuts and mouse behavior to suit how we'd like the app to operate.
As an example, I've heard in office hours that scrolling the mouse wheel on the timeline without holding Crtl or Shift doesn't do anything because people found it confusing in the past. Why not just let us decide for ourselves?
Canny AI
Merged in a post:
UI too many clicks overall...
B
Brad Puckett
This is not a complaint, but an observation as a daily Descript editor, coming from 25 years of video editing across all the other programs.
The overall editing experience is taxed by too many multi-step processes to do basic functions. I think this is a 2-part issue due to, 1) the contextual sidebar menu, and 2) the lack of custom keyboard shortcuts.
Many functions require 5 or 6 mouse clicks, long mouse drags across the screen, and into (and then back out of) the contextual sidebar.
Descript has come a LONG way in a short time, and I applaud the entire team for creating an awesome and powerful editing program! However, I hope that UI and UX considerations are in active development to improve the overall editing experience by striving to decrease the number of clicks, drags, and menu navigations.
Thanks!
Gabrielle M.
Glad to see someone else understands the issue. Would love to see this get more recognition!
Canny AI
Merged in a post:
IMPORTANT: K-E-Y-B-I-N-D-S/MENUS!!!
Gabrielle M.
Please please PLEASE add the ability to edit/add keybinds!!!
I used to edit with Audacity, and while it took a lot longer overall, it felt SO MUCH easier because everything was just a click or button press away. As it stands, some parts of editing with Descript feel like wading through soup.
The culprit?
Actually, there are two:
- You can't change or add a single keybind. Some features that need keybinds (like adding a gap clip of a certain length) are un-keybindable, for lack of a better term. Even the keybind to FIND the keybinds (Ctrl+Alt+K) is weird...and, furthermore, it's located in the Help & Feedback Menu? Why???
This leads me to the second problem:
- There should be a keybind reference menu that (a) contains the most simple keybinds (Alt+Click to play, C to correct text, etc.) or (b) can be adjusted by the user to contain whatever keybinds they want. This should be located somewhere at the top or bottom of the workspace--or, heck, even behind another keybind. The best we've got right now is an uncustomizable menu containing every keybind we will and won't use.
I see this as a necessity; while I understand that Descript is very different from the tools that came before it and there are obviously going to be some differences when it comes to keybinds, many of those in the software are quite complex/unintuitive to someone who came from Audacity: a tool that lets you see all the functions in ONE layout where EVERYTHING is exactly where any semi-tech-savvy person could expect it to be, simply because they added tool tips and followed common practice (for example, having the keyboard shortcuts in the "Preferences" menu in the "Edit" menu just because that's what most software does).
Point is, if you want to keep your consumer base, please take some notes on what your predecessors did well and add at least one of the features above as soon as possible. Time is of the essence in the editing industry, and we can't spend it rewiring OUR brains to match YOUR clunky keybinds. If you want to sell people on the concept of an AI-assisted editing process, you need to make that process customizable! That's what's so appealing about AI--its ability to fit whatever your needs are.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. :)
Canny AI
Merged in a post:
IMPORTANT: KEYBINDS/MENUS!!! :0
Gabrielle M.
Please please PLEASE add the ability to edit/add keybinds!!!
I used to edit with Audacity, and while it took a lot longer overall, it felt SO MUCH easier because everything was just a click or button press away. As it stands, some parts of editing with Descript feel like wading through soup.
The culprit?
Actually, there are two:
- You can't change or add a single keybind. Some features that need keybinds (like adding a gap clip of a certain length) are un-keybindable, for lack of a better term. Even the keybind to FIND the keybinds (Ctrl+Alt+K) is weird...and, furthermore, it's located in the Help & Feedback Menu? Why???
This leads me to the second problem:
- There should be a keybind reference menu that (a) contains the most simple keybinds (Alt+Click to play, C to correct text, etc.) or (b) can be adjusted by the user to contain whatever keybinds they want. This should be located somewhere at the top or bottom of the workspace--or, heck, even behind another keybind. The best we've got right now is an uncustomizable menu containing every keybind we will and won't use. I see this as a necessity; while I understand that Descript is very different from the tools that came before it and there are obviously going to be some differences when it comes to keybinds, many of those in the software are quite complex/unintuitive to someone who came from Audacity: a tool that lets you see all the functions in ONE layout where EVERYTHING is exactly where any semi-tech-savvy person could expect it to be, simply because they added tool tips and followed common practice (for example, having the keyboard shortcuts in the "Preferences" menu in the "Edit" menu just because that's what most software does).
Point is, if you want to keep your consumer base, please take some notes on what your predecessors did well and add at least one of the features above as soon as possible. Time is of the essence in the editing industry, and we can't spend it rewiring OUR brains to match YOUR clunky keybinds. If you want to sell people on the concept of an AI-assisted editing process, you need to make that process customizable! That's what's so appealing about AI--its ability to fit whatever your needs are.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. :)