Help: Fn+h lists the keys of the screen you're on, and no screen names its keys any more (#69)

Fn+h on any screen, text fields included, and ? outside Text Entry, open a
panel over the content area: the screen's own keys, then the ones that work
everywhere. Every App declares its keys for the state it is in (pages,
viewers, dialogs and text fields answer for themselves); the App manager
opens the panel and takes every key while it is open.

About 30 hint lines are gone, from every App. What stays on a screen is
state. The first-start Setup keeps its hints and teaches the key; a device
set up before gets one Toast, once. The guide and the FAQ open with it.
`key help` over the consoles.

476 host tests (8 new). Checked on the device with key help and screenshots:
the Launcher, all nine Apps and several of their states. 8.5 KB of flash and
40 bytes of static RAM. Decisions Q196 to Q203 in docs/milestones/U1.md.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01EhqxQ49eCju4CzKYNjZzwT

site/content/dev/debug/commands.md

@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ gnss quiet on|off   pause the GNSS receiver while the LoRa radio listens (it cos
 gnss status | gnss restart | gnss track start|stop | gnss nmea on|off | gnss send <sentence without $ and checksum>
 crash             the last crash: firmware, reason, task, backtrace
 coredump erase    forget the core dump in flash
-key <name|char>   press a key: up down left right select back home del tab space, or one character
+key <name|char>   press a key: up down left right select back home del tab space help, or one character
 wifi status | wifi add <ssid><TAB><password>
 wifi ip <ssid> dhcp | wifi ip <ssid> <address>/<prefix> [gateway]   a Saved Network's IP setting
 wifi dns <a> [b] | wifi dns always on|off | wifi ntp <a> [b]   DNS and NTP servers
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ In **Safe Mode** (see [Crashes and Safe Mode](/dev/debug/crashes/)) only a few r
 | Command | Effect |
 |---|---|
 | `burst` | Publishes 5 Notifications at once |
-| `key up\|down\|left\|right\|select\|back\|home`, or `key <char>` | Injects a key press |
+| `key up\|down\|left\|right\|select\|back\|home\|del\|tab\|space\|help`, or `key <char>` | Injects a key press (`help` is Fn+h: the keys of the screen that is showing) |
 | `sound on` / `sound off` | Toggles the Sound setting (beep + LED) |
 | `short` / `normal` | Screen timeouts 5 s / 10 s, or 30 s / 60 s |
 | `wifi add <ssid><TAB><password>` | Adds a Saved Network (so credentials stay out of the repo) |

site/content/dev/debug/drive-the-ui.md

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ Everything the keyboard can do, a command can do, and everything on the screen c
 ## Keys
 
 ```
-key up|down|left|right|select|back|home|del|tab|space
+key up|down|left|right|select|back|home|del|tab|space|help
 key a        # any single character: it is typed
 ```
 
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ Two things to know before you use them:
 
 `Fn` combinations, modifiers and the compose key have no command: the arrows are `key up|down|left|right`, and `key back` is the back key (`` ` `` on the device). Text is typed one character at a time.
 
+**`key help` opens the help panel** (<kbd>Fn</kbd>+<kbd>h</kbd> on the device): the keys of the screen that is showing. A screenshot of it is the quickest way to learn what a screen accepts, and it is how every screen's list was checked. Any key but the arrows closes it.
+
 ## Look before you press
 
 **Take a screenshot before any key that deletes, renames or installs.** A blind sequence of `key` commands goes wrong the moment the screen is not where you think it is, and the screen is often not where you think it is: a Toast, a dialog that has not closed, a different App. A sequence that was meant to open a note once renamed real data instead.

site/content/dev/milestones/u1.md

@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
++++
+title = "Look and feel"
+description = "The interface is consistent and uncrowded: the same thing is done the same way on every screen, and the 135 pixels of height go to content."
+weight = 90
+
+[extra]
+docs = true
+source = "docs/milestones/U1.md"
+tag = "U1"
++++
+**Status:** in progress. The help key (issue #69) is built and checked on the device, in a pull request. Screen recording (#17) and the rest of the milestone are not started.
+
+**Goal:** the interface is consistent and uncrowded: the same thing is done the same way on every screen, and the 135 pixels of height go to content.
+
+## The help key (issue #69)
+
+Every screen used to say something about its keys, differently: a footer of abbreviations in one place (`c x v:paste r:name d:del n:new i:info s:sort`), a line under a text field in another (`Enter: save   \`: cancel`), `Tab: sky` in a corner, and nothing at all in several. About 30 such strings, each costing a line of a small screen, and none of them complete.
+
+### Decisions (design round 2026-10-07)
+
+| # | Decision |
+|---|---|
+| Q196 | **Fn+h, on every screen,** text fields included (Fn is held, so nothing is typed). **`?` too, outside Text Entry.** |
+| Q197 | It opens **a panel over the content area**, titled with where you are: the screen's own keys, then an "Everywhere" group (Back, Home, the arrows, the help key). The arrows scroll it; any other key closes it and is not passed on. |
+| Q198 | **Each App answers "what are your keys right now?"** for the state it is in; pages, viewers, dialogs and text fields answer for themselves, with shared lists for dialogs, lists and text entry. The lists are constants; the panel's rows exist only while it is open. |
+| Q199 | **Every hint that names a key goes,** text fields included. What stays is state: `REC 12 points`, `LOG 42`, `sort:signal`, `typing`/`saved`, what is waiting to be pasted, the Sweep's floor. Messages were reworded where they named a key ("v pastes a copy of…" is "Copied …: paste it where you like"). |
+| Q200 | **The first-start Setup keeps its hints,** and is the one place that does: someone in their first minute doesn't know the help key yet. It tells them about it on its first and last screens. |
+| Q201 | **Loud everywhere else:** the user guide opens with it, the FAQ has it first, and a device set up before this firmware gets one Toast, once: "Fn+h: the keys of any screen". |
+| Q202 | `key help` over the consoles. Generating the website's key tables from the same lists is a follow-up, not this issue. |
+| Q203 | The key and the panel first, host-tested; then one App at a time, declaring its keys and losing its hints in the same step; then every screen looked at on the device. |
+
+### As built
+
+- **`Key::Help`** from the key mapper: Fn+h in both modes, `?` only outside Text Entry (`lib/input`, 3 tests).
+- **`App::help()` and `App::helpTitle()`** (`lib/core/src/app.h`), `KeyHelp` rows and `HelpModel` (`key_help.h`). The **App manager** opens the panel, appends the "Everywhere" group, and while it is open takes every key: nothing reaches the App, Home included. It closes when the App changes (5 tests).
+- **Every App declares its keys by state:** the Launcher, IRC (chat, settings, a field), Wi-Fi Tools (4 views), GNSS, Gemini (page, saved page, address, answer, dialogs), the LoRa Scanner (4 views), Storage (browse, details, a name, the viewer's 6 modes, the editor, Maintenance, busy), Notes (list, editor, a file name), System (5 views), Settings (menu, text, choice, and the Wi-Fi, Firmware and Debug Console pages with their own states), Setup and the widget demo.
+- **The hints are gone** from all of them. The footers that remain say state only.
+- **It costs** 8.5 KB of flash and 40 bytes of static RAM.
+
+### Checks
+
+| Check | Result |
+|---|---|
+| Host tests | 476 pass (468 before) |
+| On the device, `key help` and a screenshot | The Launcher and all nine Apps, and these states: Storage scrolled, System's tasks, a Settings text field, Wi-Fi Tools' networks. The panel is titled with the scope, lists the right keys, scrolls, and closes on Tab |
+| The one-time Toast | `notification: Fn+h: the keys of any screen` on the first start after the update |
+
+**Not checked:** the real Fn+h and `?` on the keyboard (the mapper is host-tested; the device was driven with `key help`); the Setup screens, which only a device that was never set up shows, so their new text has not been seen on a screen; and the states that need something to happen first (a dialog, a copy in progress, a Gemini prompt, a packet's details): their lists were read against the key handling, not looked at.

site/content/faq.md

@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ template = "guide-page.html"
 toc = true
 +++
 
+## Which keys work on this screen?
+
+Press **<kbd>Fn</kbd> + <kbd>h</kbd>**, on any screen: it lists the keys that work there, then the ones that work everywhere. <kbd>?</kbd> does the same when you are not typing text. The screens themselves never name their keys, so this is the one key to remember. See [The basics](/guide/basics/).
+
 ## Can I send messages over the mesh?
 
 **Not yet.** The LoRa Scanner **listens** to Meshtastic traffic and shows what it hears, but nothing is transmitted. A mesh messenger is the goal and is planned in two milestones, one for receiving and one for transmitting; it waits for a second node to test against.

site/content/guide/_index.md

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ sort_by = "weight"
 page_template = "guide-page.html"
 +++
 
-This guide says what the firmware does **today** and nothing else. Start with the basics (the keys, the Launcher, the first start), then read the page of any App. It describes the latest release; the numbers and key names come from the firmware's own source.
+This guide says what the firmware does **today** and nothing else. Start with the basics (the keys, the Launcher, the first start), then read the page of any App. **On the device itself, <kbd>Fn</kbd> + <kbd>h</kbd> lists the keys of whatever screen you are on:** nothing else on a screen names them. It describes the latest release; the numbers and key names come from the firmware's own source.
 
 **The mesh messenger is planned, not built.** The LoRa Scanner listens to Meshtastic traffic and shows it, but the device sends nothing yet: that is the next milestone and waits for a second node to test with.
 

site/content/guide/basics.md

@@ -6,6 +6,14 @@ weight = 1
 tag = "Start here"
 +++
 
+## One key to remember
+
+**<kbd>Fn</kbd> + <kbd>h</kbd>, on any screen, lists the keys that work there.** No screen names its keys: that key does. It works everywhere, in a text field too, and <kbd>?</kbd> does the same whenever you are not typing. The arrows scroll the list; any other key closes it.
+
+The list is for *the screen you are on*: in Storage it is the file keys, in a dialog it is the dialog's, in a text field it is the editing keys. Each list ends with the keys that work everywhere.
+
+If you only read one paragraph of this guide, this was it.
+
 ## The keys
 
 The Cardputer's keyboard has no arrow keys and no Escape, so the firmware gives a few keys a second job:
@@ -17,11 +25,12 @@ The Cardputer's keyboard has no arrow keys and no Escape, so the firmware gives
 | <kbd>Fn</kbd> + <kbd>`</kbd> | **Home**: back to the Launcher |
 | <kbd>Fn</kbd> + <kbd>;</kbd> <kbd>.</kbd> <kbd>,</kbd> <kbd>/</kbd> | The arrows: up, down, left, right |
 | <kbd>;</kbd> <kbd>.</kbd> <kbd>,</kbd> <kbd>/</kbd> alone | The same arrows, as long as you are **not** typing text |
+| <kbd>Fn</kbd> + <kbd>h</kbd>, or <kbd>?</kbd> when not typing | **Help:** the keys of the screen you are on |
 | <kbd>Tab</kbd> | Switches view in an App that has more than one |
 | <kbd>Del</kbd> | Deletes backwards when you type |
 | <kbd>opt</kbd> then an accent, then a letter | Types an accented letter: <kbd>opt</kbd> <kbd>'</kbd> <kbd>e</kbd> gives é |
 
-While you type text (a note, an IRC line, a setting), `;` `.` `,` `/` type their own characters and you need <kbd>Fn</kbd> for the arrows. The bottom of the screen shows `opt` while a compose is waiting for its letter.
+While you type text (a note, an IRC line, a setting), `;` `.` `,` `/` type their own characters and you need <kbd>Fn</kbd> for the arrows. The Status Bar shows `opt` while a compose is waiting for its letter.
 
 ## The Launcher
 
@@ -50,7 +59,7 @@ News from a background service (an IRC mention, a Storage warning, an update tha
 
 ## The first start
 
-On a new device a short Setup asks four things, then never appears again:
+On a new device a short Setup asks four things, then never appears again. It also tells you about <kbd>Fn</kbd> + <kbd>h</kbd>, twice, and it is the only part of the firmware that names keys on the screen:
 
 1. **Long name**, up to 39 bytes.
 2. **Short name**, up to 4 characters.

site/content/guide/storage.md

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ Storage shows what is on the SD card: each folder's entries with their size and
 
 | Key | Does |
 |---|---|
-| <kbd>c</kbd> / <kbd>x</kbd> | Copies or cuts the selected file or folder; the footer shows what <kbd>v</kbd> would paste |
+| <kbd>c</kbd> / <kbd>x</kbd> | Copies or cuts the selected file or folder; the footer shows what is waiting to be pasted |
 | <kbd>v</kbd> | Pastes it into the folder shown. A copy next to its original is named `name (2).txt`; anything in the way is asked about first |
 | <kbd>r</kbd> | Renames |
 | <kbd>d</kbd> | Deletes, after saying what is inside: "Delete saved and its 42 files (1.2 MB)?" |

site/tools/gen_dev_docs.py

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ REPO = SITE.parent
 OUT = SITE / "content" / "dev"
 REPO_URL = re.search(r'repo\s*=\s*"([^"]+)"', (SITE / "config.toml").read_text()).group(1)
 
-MILESTONES = ["OTA", "M2", "G1", "M3", "S1", "F1", "R1", "W1"]  # in the order they were done
+MILESTONES = ["OTA", "M2", "G1", "M3", "S1", "F1", "R1", "W1", "U1"]  # in the order they were done
 # Left out on purpose: docs/milestones/M0.md, M1.md and CONTEXT.md (the glossary) describe Wi-Fi monitoring, which this site does not publish.
 # They stay in the repository.