One of the things I keep stumbling over when using ChatGPT is the fact that I have to manually focus the input field before I type anything when I open a new chat (this includes opening a fresh tab with ChatGPT). This little UX barrier slows down my thought process, which – for someone with autism and ADHD – is uncomfortable because now, it requires more focus to maintain my working memory for the second or two it would take to click on the input field. In one word: friction.
(There is a hotkey to focus the input field, but it’s Shift+Esc, which is a Chrome key for “Open Chrome task manager”. Chrome is a very popular browser, so while the hotkey is convenient, it may cause issues to a significant portion of potential users.)
My request is: on any chatacter-producing key press, focus the input and reproduce the key, as if they user had been typing into the input field to begin with. (Additionally, when the input field is not yet focused, handle pasting directly into the input field if the paste is text.)
Aside from potentially invoking (likely non-destructive) effects in other windows (if the browser window is not focused upon typing), I don’t see any disadvantages to this approach, though feel free to correct me if I’m missing something.