Let Escape key delete empty node and move up node tree


To improve building a mindmap with a keyboard I would suggest to let the escape key delete an empty node and move back up tree if no text has been entered. 

 

Example.

Cursor is on Tier 1 node, you press TAB to open an empty Tier 2 and allow for keyboard input

If you press escape at this moment the edit mode will disappear and the cursor will be placed on the Tier 2 node without a label. If you had made a mistake you need to press delete to be taken back to tier 1 and you can make this one keystroke less than it needs to be.

 

I suggest that the expected behaviour should be something like this

Cursor is on Tier 1, you press tab to open an empty Tier 2 and allow for keyboard input

If you have not added any text and press escape the now empty Tier 2 node would be deleted and the cursor moved back to Tier 1 similar to how the DEL key functions when you delete a node.

 

This will allow for swift recovery when using Keyboard input to be able to correct mistakes and traverse the tree easily.

Isn’t the true need a much simpler set of UI interactions across the whole of the miro UX?


That might be true but that is a much more complex request and I tried to base it on what’s currently there and how I’ve experienced other mindmapping software to work to make keyboard input easier. There other idea threads about improved keyboard input in a more general sense.


This is one of those features that sounds good in theory but may end up becoming more annoying than originally intended so it may be worth making it configurable or possibly even triggering this effect on a double click of esc key or something similar.

I do agree that being able to accomplish the end goal what @Jan Viljanen originally posted would be very useful. My experience in UX design makes me feel like this should be slightly more robust than was discussed in original post.


Yes @David Watkins it needs some more refinement and there might be edge cases to take into account in how this operates in the greater scheme of things. You could argue that double ESC would be duplication of the current functionality of ESC-DEL combination that essentially does the same thing but requires two keystrokes in different parts of the key layout (if you have a normal keyboard).


One solution is simply use a different keyboard shortcut. Coggle.it (another mindmapping tool I really like) uses Shift+Tab to jump to the parent. If the node is empty, Coggle auto-deletes it.

Here’s a full list of keyboard shortcuts it uses.