Macros need work please

I just downloaded MUSHclient and have been playing around with scripting, and for the most part I am impressed.
There is just one problem I have discovered so far that is making me unsure whether to use the client or not, and it is very frustrating because it is such a minor issue.
The macros function is very annoying..

I have used zmud for some time, and macro creation goes like this:
You choose to create a new macro
You hit the key combination you desire and it appears in the input space
You hit tab and fill in the commands to be executed

This macro setup is extremely useful as it allows you to define nearly any combination of keys on your keyboard, but I would gladly settle for a minor upgrade.

Currently, you can only choose combinations of f-keys and alt-letter keys. Also, some keys, like f1, are statically bound and cannot be changed. I am used to using f1 for quaffing heals, but I considered switching to f2, however I can just imagine being in a heated pk and accidently hitting f1, bringing up the annoying help menu and probably casuing me to die. Since I really don't care about the help menu, I would like to be able to use f1 for something useful. Also, combining alt with letter keys is slow and I would rather use shift or ctrl for my macros.

If there is a workaround for this please let me know what it is, otherwise I will keep using my slow zmud for now.

Thanks

Hi, also you have macros like ctrl-w = whisper
These might be useful to a few people who would actually want such a macro, but I would much rather have a fast macro like ctrl-w be something that needs to be performed in a hurry, like 'where pk'.

As I said, I do like the client, but so far only the macros have caused me serious trouble. This client is rated extremely fast, which would make it great for pkill, but the macro setup threatens to compromise my speed needlessly. Something as robust and easy to configure as the zmud macro setup isn't really necessary, but it seems like an adequate system could be set up through scripting pretty easily.

If there is a way to do this or if you could create one I would be most appreciative.

I have to agree here.. In a client where you use F# keys to do tasks, having "any" of them bound to a specific function is annoying. I can't tell you how many times I have tried to use F2 to heal myself/someone else and bumped F1 by accident. This could still be a problem if F1 was set to execute a command, but at least I wouldn't have to alt-tab or use the mouse to get back to the client window. Neither of which I am likely to remember in the critical moments I scramble to figure out what the heck happened. There is no practical reason to force any such settings on users, unless you are using a normal program. In things like Word, Excel, etc. it makes perfect sense to use the same key bindings for the program to be consistent. For a game client it is a) frustrating, b) useless and c) possibly even dangerous for the character being controlled through it. I would rather re-assign help to some other more obscure and harder to hit by accident combo, than have it sitting next to a key I use quite often or may need in an emergency.

Allowing generic key assignments is on the "todo" list because it takes quite a bit of reworking.

It is not just allowing key assignments, the client has to have initial defaults, allow you to change those (eg. reassign the F1 key from help to something else), allow for listing the correct current assignment when you pull down a menu, allow for the keystrokes changing when you change to the notepad (or change worlds, conceivably), allow for some keystrokes to be shared between all worlds, and some for a particular world. I started doing it a while back but got bogged down.

For now, use the "macro" screen as far as you can. You know you can put in a word in the macro screen which can then be an alias? So your macros can do more than just send something to the MUD. Putting an alias in the macro "send" field lets you activate the alias which can then call a script, and do more powerful things.

You can also do the same thing for the numeric keypad, and CTRL+keypad keys to get another 15 programmable keys, on top of the 15 original keypad keys.

You can re-assign ctrl+w from "whisper" to something else in the macro configuration screen.