Re: [sweep-devel] What I'd wish sweep to have..

[Frank N. <bea...@we...>]

Hi list,
Heimo Claasen <ha...@re...> wrote:

[..]

> That latter indeed is a salient argument. But then, where is the
> "consistency" when [CTRL]-[C] almost everywhere is used for break-out,
> but not in Sweep ? Or, [SHIFT]-[CTRL]-[A] (to unmark all regions
> selected) could hardly be called a "standard" for this not-so-seldom
> used task; and ergonomically it's plain nonsense. Though I know that
> there are people around who wouldn't be happy without a three-keypress
> approach to delete a last latter typed wrongly - for my part, I prefer
> to use [backspace] right away; and I would really dislike someone
> who'd try to force me to use [ESC], [CTRL]-[space]-[x] instead.

I have a hard time following these statements - maybe you are mixing up
GUI and non-GUI programs here.
- Ctrl-C is to send SIGINTR to shell-based programs which will then (usually)
gracefully exit. I still have to see a GUI-based program that uses Ctrl-C
to stop something. Usually you would use e.g. the Escape or space key
for that.

- On the other hand, especially the Ctrl-C (Copy), Ctrl-V (Paste) and Ctrl-X
(Cut) key combinations have been pretty much "standard" for a few years now
(even in the Linux world). Examples are e.g. The Gimp, Abiword, most Gtk/Gnome
based programs, most probably also most KDE-based programs (I don't use KDE,
but I am quite sure they use this, too). Yes, this probably comes from the
Windows (or Mac?) world, but it's so much in common use nowadays that I do
consider this as a standard. I think even some of the ancient text editors I
used on my Amiga back around ~ 88 used these. Oh, and of course the Mac also
had those for a long time, though not with the "Ctrl" key introducer, but 
the "Apple command" key instead.

Using Ctrl-A for "select all" is also handled this way by Gimp, Abiword and
probably quite a few more applications. Ctrl-Shift-A for "Unselect All" is
also used like that in Gimp (and again, there might be more apps that use
it), and I think it's logical - though, it's by far not as common as the
Cut/Copy/Paste combo.

As for "correct the last incorrectly typed letter", Ctrl-Z is used as Undo in
a LOT of apps. And, of course the "Delete" or "Backspace" key does not "undo"
anything you typed - that's a different operation with different semantics.
Also, I would not be able to guess upfront what function pressing "Delete" or
"Backspace" in a wav editor would have. It might be given some function, but
I don't know of any function that is common known standard for these keys
in this application class.

Greetings,
Frank

PS: I believe there is a Gtk User Interface Style Guide on the Internet
that should list the recommended functions and their keyboard shortcuts.
I should be able to locate it for you if you are interested.