>>>>> On Sat, 4 Sep 1993 12:37:29 GMT, tmr@emotsun.bham.ac.uk (Tim Read) said:
>>>>> On Fri, 3 Sep 1993 13:34:25 GMT, kers@uk.co.hewlett-packard.hpl (Chris Dollin) said:
> What *do* people like? [Err, perhaps this should go to private email,
> otherwise we will have a large number of p-o'ed po-p users.]
[lots of stuff deleted at various points]
Tim> + all commands are issued by simple combinations of C- and M- keys which:
Tim> + are the same across all gnu-emacs variants that I have encountered.
Tim> + are the same across all terminals (unlike ved where there seems to be a
Tim> different key map for each different terminal type (AHHHHHHHH).
This also means that I don't have to move my fingers away from their
normal position to execute most commands, e.g. onto the right key
(number) pad, onto function keys. [Okay, so I'm one of those weirdos
who doesn't even use arrow keys, but I could if I wanted to ;-]
Unfortunately, the Control key on the HP keyboards we have here are in
an awkward position for the left little finger, unlike our Suns and
NCD Xterminals, where it's under the TAB key. I can imagine using
Emacs from such a keyboard would be a bit fiddly.
Tim> + make use of sensible mnemonics for basic functions ([p]revious, [n]ext
Tim> [b]ack, [f]orward, [d]elete, [k]ill, [y]ank, [w]ipe (?)), which make
Tim> learning and reapplying keys in different modes very easy.
"Sensible" is subjective, I grant you. But surely anyone can learn the
basic commands of a day-to-day editor after a short period of use?
[and to balance]
Tim> In the interest of presenting a balanced argument :-) , one
Tim> criticism with emacs would be the way that it doesn't show up
Tim> marked regions like ved does - very irritating..
A _real_ problem if you have the attention span of a goldfish, Tim!
Ceri
--
Ceri Hopkins
School of Computer Science C.A.Hopkins@Cs.Bham.Ac.Uk
University of Birmingham Tel. +44-21-414-3743
|