Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!rice!news.rice.edu!pete From: pete@tone.rice.edu (Pete Keleher) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps Subject: Re: Nisus 3.0-extended command keys. Message-ID: Date: 29 Aug 90 15:06:11 GMT References: <2768@network.ucsd.edu> Sender: news@rice.edu (News) Organization: Whatsamatta U Lines: 38 In-Reply-To: jon@weber.ucsd.edu's message of 28 Aug 90 17:20:08 GMT jon@weber.ucsd.edu says: > I have already received some flak for allowing the assignment of more > than 1 letter in a command key, because it does not follow Macintosh > guidlines. (I personally find it a relief and time saver not to have > to grab the mouse at every turn, opting instead to use a double or > triple command key.) But as always, I am interested in hearing how > others would like to have it. I would like to know more about how > other programs execute commands via the keyboard. I would also like to > know how the Macintosh community feels about deviating away from > requiring the key in every command key sequence. Alpha 2.0 (just hitting the ftp sites now) allows any combination of command, option, escape, and control keys with a single "primary" key, which can be any key that produced a 'keyDown' event. My guidelines for the user interface (in order of importance) were: 1) Fully support the mac interface 2) Allow any function or feature to be accessed via menus, the mouse, in a way that the user can figure out without the online help if he took a little time. 3) Allow everything in the program to be accessed without touching the mouse. (1) and (2) are very important because the success of the mac is based in large part on the ability of users to more from one program to the next with little retraining. (3) is also very important because once a program's operation is learned, the primary criteria for judging it's quality often becomes: "How quickly can I do this? or that?", and using command sequences (once memorized) IS much faster than the mouse in a text editing environment. -- ============================================================================= Pete Keleher pete@titan.rice.edu =============================================================================