Re: SEUL: Text editors.

[Donovan Rebbechi <elflord@pegasus.rutgers.edu>]

> > Nedit isn't free it's linked to motif.
> >
> This point had escaped me ... I use several X editors and can't remember 
> the name of sume.  I haven't found many with design problems, but I have
> found a few that don't work ( core dumps etc... )

Yep. Seen a few myself (-:

> Nedit must have been 1 of those I didn't use since I don't have Motif 
> ( can't afford it )

It's _statically_ linked. Anyone can use it, but it's built on a
commercial product. Much like KDE.

> > BTW, pico isn't free either.  It may be free enough but that's debatable.
> >
> I'm not too worried about what's fully free.  As long as it can be 
> included in a commercial distro and a free distro.  I only know about
> usability.  see below.

Pico is very usable. There are key bindings, but they are all written on
the bottom of the screen. How do I cut text again ? Oh, it says 
^K Cut text 
on the bottom of the screen. So I'll try ^K. 
ee is also like this. This is a good thing to have in a text editor. It is
highly self-explanatory. 

> > This is a very strange thing to say.  I can use edit.com blindfolded but
> > can't do a damned thing in WP5.0/1 without using a menu pop-up and scanning
> >            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > the menu's for what I want to do.  F5 opens a file in WP but alt-o does in
> > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > all MS products.  F7 exits WP but alt-x exits all MS products.  alt-s saves
> > in MS products but, I think it's shift F7 in WP.
> > 
> > Where's the similarity?
> > 
> The highlighted comment is WHAT made WP51 easy for me.  You didn't need
> to 
> memorize Keybindings.  That is good in the long run, but when you just
> need to edit a few small files to customize your system or fix a 
> problem, Drop down menus are where it's att ( see my last post about 1 
> real world example )

The drop down menus themselves aren't necessary. Check out pico and ee.
Like I said, it should be self-explanatory (use of it) and the explanation
should be on the screen right under the users nose the whole time. 

What is important is the users shouldn't need to memorise key bindings.
That's why pico and ee have their noses in front of all the other guys.

> If you don't remember 'F5 to open new file' you will remember 'alt to
> drop down menu and arrow keys to find what I want'
> As for keybindings.  I can't think of a single reason to not have 2 or
> 3 keybindings for some functions

Makes life simpler if you avoid this. 

-- Donovan