Bug#192305: "q to end, b for begin" ambiguous

[debian@computerdatasafe.com.au]

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.

I don't recall that CUA deals with END and HOME, but bottom and top of
window (file with an accelerator key, I don't have any feelings about
which of shift, control or alt to use).


I can't for the life of me recall which key provided "cancel."

In ISPF (which is where I encountered this convention most), these keys
actually map to commands, and there's a setup dialogue where users can
customise the mappings (including setting them to run entirely new commands).


> 
> 
> /Martin
> 

-- 

Cheers
John Summerfield

Please, no off-list mail at all at all. This address accepts mail only from Debian lists.