Atari Mega Archive 1/Atari Mega Archive - Volume 1.iso/lists/gem/l_0799/543

Internet Message Format | 1994-08-27 | 3.1 KB

Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 17:33:44 -0400 (EDT)
From: Timothy Miller <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: 20/06/94
To: [e-mail]
In-Reply-To: <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <Pine.3.87.9406221744.A2853-0100000@grad>
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Warwick:

)Timothy Miller:
)> Yes, it's for all applications, therefore it should be SAFE for all
)> applications.  If if is obviously and blatantly dangerous for one
)> application (word processing, one of the more common), then it doesn't
)> belong.
)
)In a drawing program, `Bold' might be very dangerous (does a pixel-blur).
)Does this mean we make it Shift-CTRL-B?  No.  Hiding functions in
)contortionist key combinations is not a solution to possible danger in
)applications.  The application should simply make it safe.  This is
)trivial to do, as various subscribers have noted (just check if all
)is highlighted before scrapping it).

You miss the point.  Ctrl-A is easy to accidentally hit, while Ctrl-B is
not.  Your arguement is invalid.


Mark H.

)I just wanted to air my thoughts on big blocks/cursors.
)
)I realy don't see what a block has to do with a cursor. A block is a lump,
)or lumps, of text, which is marked. A block can be moved, cut, coppied,
)saved to a clipboard etc, where as a cursor is a small symbol on the screen,
)showing where text will appear when I type.
)
)If I ever find a piece of software that does not obay the above rules,
then I
)will not be using it!
)

The big-cursor paradigm makes perfect sense.  The cursor is ALWAYS a
block, and vice versa.  If the cursor is big (a block), the contents are
deleted and the new information inserted in its place.  If the cursor is
small (an insertion point), there is no information to delete, and the
new information is inserted.  So, basically, the WIDTH of the cursor
ranges from zero (insertion point) to 1 (type-over) to the size of your
block.

Additionally, it requires less work that the other system, and requires
the user to memorize fewer shortcuts, because all commands work on a
block, rather than 'block' AND 'cursor'.  You're using one system of
handling text, rather than two.


Again, to everyone, I advocate ^W for CYCLE, and I don't care what is
CLOSE, because it is used relatively infrequently.


For those of us with ? = Shift-/, can Ctrl-? be the same as Ctrl-/  ?
It's already that way in SOME terminal programs.  (BTW, Delete (127)
comes out as ^? in UNIX, but that doesn't matter for our purposes).


Himsley,

)>Timothy Miller:
)>----------------
)>And the shortcuts file will also allow people to deviate so far from the
)>standard that the standard becomes a moot point.
)>----------------
)>We'll have a default shortcut file.
)>----------------
)
)I think we should make the standard so good that no-one will want to
have a
)shortcut file.
)
My point exactly.

)>How about REOPEN ?  (like with Zip, on X)
)
)Yes, reOPEN realy tells the user exactly what is going to happen, in the
)same vain as 'save' and 'save as...'

Yes, but REOPEN, to me, means 'open another copy of the same file',
rather than 'discard what's in memory and load the last saved version',
which is REVERT.