The default keymap is destructive on macOS, please do not replicate the faults of others

[flyx]

macOS, unlike other OSes, uses the Option key to access additional layers of the keyboard. For example, this is the layer when you press Option on the US International layout:

There's another layer for Shift+Option.

Hence, pressing any non-modifier key with Option is already a defined input in macOS and should not be used in a keymap.

This has been a problem for editors that are not macOS-first for a long time (VSCode etc), but since Zed is macOS-first, it is baffling that it still does that.

This is a problem especially for alternative keyboard layouts like e.g. Neo2, where the Option layer looks like this:

So my first experience in Zed was, I wanted to write a colon and the editor instead deleted the next word. I think we can agree that this is not good user experience. The default settings should not contradict the OS.

[mrnugget]

Thanks for the report! We're aware and there's already and issue here: #7688

The big question is: do we make it easier to disable these keybindings, or do we change all the default keybindings (breaking change)?

[flyx]

Since there is already support for boolean expressions in "context":, I think an obvious solution would be to move the problematic bindings to a new section, e.g.

{
  "context": "Editor && !macAffinity",
  "bindings": /*...*/
}

Then you can introduce new macOS-specific bindings in an alternative section with Editor & macAffinity and ask the user on installation or update whether they want macOS-affine keybindings.