Windows, and I guess other OS’ as well, queue key events: Even when a window is currently loading, you can already press keys and watch the intended action once loading is done. That usually works when the loading is blocking.
Unfortunately that rarely works for web applications. Since using GMail with mostly keyboard-only, I’m especially annoyed by that. I’m switching views a lot, from Inbox to some label, to searches and back to inbox, and various messages inbetween. Keys I press while a view a still loading are usually ignored, instead of being queued.
So while odds are good that GMail will eventually fix that, because too many Googler’s will get annoyed to, after all, it was a Googler who showed me whats possible, other web applications are less likely to fix it. If you are developing apps that can be keyboard controlled, queue key events where appropiate!
Have your say!
This blog post should evolve over time and your feedback is invaluable in achieving this by helping me fix factual errors, fill in details, and expand the original post.
Do you use GMail, or any other app with a lot of keyboard interaction? Did you even noticed the keypress queue, or lack thereof? Any ideas how to improve things on the web? Leave a comment and enlighten us!