Keyboard Navigation

When a screen reader such as macOS VoiceOver, Windows Narrator, NVDA or JAWS is activated, you can use the following keys to navigate and interact with the user interface :

  • Tab and Shift+Tab to move between elements and groups.
  • Up and Down to move between sub-elements.
  • Ctrl+Alt+Space or Return to activate or validate elements.
  • Esc to close the current dialog and return to the main interface.

Other important keys to know are:

  • Space to start or stop listening to the project or project selection at any time, except when text is being edited.
  • Ctrl+Space to start or stop previewing the current module before its applied.
  • Ctrl+Return to apply the current module.
  • Left and Right moves the playhead backward and forward while playing a short preview.
  • Shift+Left and Shift+Right selects a time range.
  • Ctrl+L to enable playback looping over the selected time range.
  • Ctrl+D to deselect.

See Windows Keyboard Shortcuts or macOS Keyboard Shortcuts for all the default keyboard shortcuts. All actions can be customized in the Shortcuts Preferences.

When launching SpectraLayers the focus is first creating a new project, then opening an existing audio file, and finally opening recent files.

Once a project is active the focus jumps right at the Modules Panel which list all available modules, optionally filtered by categories.

You can then open any module dialog by either pressing Ctrl+Alt+Space or Return, tweak its parameters, preview using Ctrl+Space, apply it using Ctrl+Return, and close its dialog by pressing Esc. This will put the focus back to the Modules Panel.

Next come the Channels Panel which allows you to select specific channels (all are selected by default), then the Layers Panel which allows you to select, create or delete specific layers, and finally the History Panel if you need navigate back into specific previous actions.

[Note] Note

When no screen reader is detected, some default shortcuts may conflict with navigation keys, such as Tab and Shift+Tab assigned to compact mode. When a screen reader is detected, keyboard shortcuts conflicting with those navigation and interaction keys are disabled.