Bug#192305: "q to end, b for begin" ambiguous
debian@computerdatasafe.com.au writes:
> On 8 May 2003, Martin [ISO-8859-1] Sjögren wrote:
>
>> tor 2003-05-08 klockan 12.13 skrev Mario Lang:
>> > > I wrote up some other possible short examples (could be mixed&matched).
>> > > "s to stop" and "l for list's top"
>> > > "a to act" and "r to relist"
>> > > "q to quit select" and "r to refresh list"
>> > > "e to exit selections" and "b to goto list top"
>> > > "q to quit select" and "b to begin list"
>> > >
>> > > My first choices would be: "q to quit select" and "b to begin list"
>> >
>> > What about "q to finish" and "b for begin"?
>>
>> "finish" is good, but shouldn't it be 'f' then? :) (and this should be
>> translated) I don't like "b for begin" or "b to begin" because you *have
>> already begun*, I would prefer "t for top of list" or something like
>> that, because that's what you're getting!
>
> A problem with mnemonic keys is that they don't translate.
>
> While you may find a clear, unambiguous set in English - quite a
> challenge if there are more than a few - when you want to try to
> translate them to other languages, the scheme falls down.
>
> Function keys are good. IBM (I mention IBM only because that's where my
> experience lies) has been using them since the early 70s.
>
> I offer these as being CUA-compliant (that means it's consistent with
> other operating systems including, to a large extent, Windows)
> F1 Help
> F2 Split (splits screen)
> F3 End
> F4 Return (repeated ends, eg to exit help if you're several layers in)
> F7 & F8 are used for paging, but many keyboards have sensible
> alternatives.
Nitpicking, but, F3 is search these days... so much about "standards".
I don't think function keys are any better than one-letter shortcuts, because:
1. As someone already pointed out, there are keyboards without those keys.
2. In some strange terminal combinations, it can get very tricky
to transmit proper function key sequences.
Especially item 2 can get quite tricky for newbies, and should be avoided
if possible.
--
CYa,
Mario | Debian Developer <URL:http://debian.org/>
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