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From: ldo@waikato.ac.nz (Lawrence D'Oliveiro, Waikato University)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Another MPW 3.2 Shell wish...
Message-ID: <1991Jan29.165442.2851@waikato.ac.nz>
Date: 29 Jan 91 03:54:42 GMT
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
Lines: 27

I've been using version 3.2b9 of the MPW Shell for about 3 weeks now,
and I think I like the way the split windows work after all...

Just one user-interface issue: the editor maintains the concept of
an "active pane", which is the one that displays the insertion point
or the selection. Even if another pane is displaying the same part
of the file, it doesn't show the insertion/selection, though it
does correctly update as you make changes.

Also, when you do a Find or other command that moves the selection,
the "active pane" is the one that scrolls to the new position.

There is another way of doing this, and that's not to have an active
pane as such. Instead, you display the selection in all panes where
it is visible. And when the user executes a command (like Find)
that would require autoscrolling to keep the selection visible,
you simply scroll the pane that's showing a part of the file closest
to the new selection. In other words, autoscroll the one that would
require the least scrolling.

Comments, anyone? It just seems to me the idea of an "active pane"
adds another layer of modality we can do without.

Lawrence D'Oliveiro                       fone: +64-71-562-889
Computer Services Dept                     fax: +64-71-384-066
University of Waikato            electric mail: ldo@waikato.ac.nz
Hamilton, New Zealand    37^ 47' 26" S, 175^ 19' 7" E, GMT+13:00