Re: [Gaim-devel] gaim-text interface

[Adil <ad...@ya...>]

> >
> >   - the behavior of the keyboard controls is clumsy and non-intuitive.
> >     After a considerable period playing with the interface, I still
> >     couldn't figure out when to press left/right, up/down or enter.
> 
> I have had similar issues, especially when nothing seemed to work when 
> resizing or to exit a menu.
> 

Admittedly the keyboard controls are mostly unintuitive. However, it is
possible to remap most of the bindings to meet ones likings. It should be
quite possible to use all the features without using the alt key.

When you press escape inside screen, it doesn't immediately send it to the
application. This is why even if you don't have an alt-key, you can press
"<esc><alphanum>" in somewhat quick succession to get the effect of
pressing alt+<alphanum>. For this very reason, pressing escape doesn't
immediately close a menu. If you try closing the menu outside screen, it
should work with the first <esc> keypress.

> >     a problem with my X11 software, admittedly). Since the whole point
> of
> >     a console interface is to enable remote control, there should be
> >     alternative controls for people with ALT problems - like the
> ESC-ESC
> >     sequence in Emacs. Gaim-text is unusable without the ALT controls.
> 
> I have not encountered this, but I do have a device running Linux and 
> gaim-text (either natively or over SSH) that has no ALT keys! I tried to
> rebind them to Ctrl+(capital letter) but it did not work well. I agree
> that an alternate beginning sequence would be helpful.

Quite possibly. I would accept a clean patch that would allow doing that.
In the meantime, the following bindings work for me:

[GntWM::binding]
# bind control-n to window-next
c-N=window-next
# bind control-p to window-prev
c-P=window-prev

> 
> I also have noticed that it is impossible to add buddies or edit their 
> information from gaim-text.
> 

You can add buddies or edit their information from gaim-text. In the
buddylist, select a group and press F11 (yes, possible to rebind that).
That should show a context-menu with an 'Add buddy' item. There are
context-menus for buddies, chats etc. too in the buddylist.

It'd be quite awesome if someone updated the manual, or wrote a brief FAQ
for gaim-text.

> All in all, I and others love gaim-text. If there's a way that I can
> help 
> (without programming -- I don't yet know C), let me know.
> 

*hint* ;)

Sadrul

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