Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!cbatt!ucbvax!THINK.COM!rose From: rose@THINK.COM.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.windows.x Subject: Re: Exotic Interface Query Message-ID: <8704061526.AA14490@ican.think.com> Date: Mon, 6-Apr-87 10:26:24 EST Article-I.D.: ican.8704061526.AA14490 Posted: Mon Apr 6 10:26:24 1987 Date-Received: Wed, 8-Apr-87 23:57:36 EST Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Distribution: world Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 55 From: Seth Steinberg Since I use EMACS, X windows requires using a mouse to switch between telnet windows and the editor. Is there some way to bind the circulate windows command to one of the 34 function keys on my SUN keyboard? I would really like something like the Symbolics interface which lets me press a key and then a window identifier to quickly select that window. If his request seems exotic, something's wrong in X-land. As a matter of principle, you should look most suspiciously at any functionality which is available from one input device only. Why must there be a necessary relation between an operation (e.g., select window) and the means by which it is requested (e.g., mouse)? More specifically: Anything you can do with the mouse, you should be able to do with the keyboard, and vice versa. Reasons: * Switching between home position on a keyboard and holding a mouse costs time and interruptions in concentration. The fewer causes for such interruptions the better. * Different people prefer or need different interfaces, at different times. (See Seth's message, and previous reason.) * If your system is less than completely reliable, sometimes the keyboard or mouse goes off in the trees, and you need to issue commands to get it back. * Greater symmetry makes a system easier to learn and use. Examples: Why not a keyboard menu? If you need just to type a "Y" or "N", it may be faster to pop up a little keyboard icon and mouse the letter. The Symbolics system lets you get a window with Mouse-Left, or via a menu. John Bruner's UW program selects window #N via Option-N. The Apollo mouse position can be modified by cursor keys. (Yes, I know about the converse proposition on that system: bumping the mouse makes your cursor jump unexpectedly. But how come so many of the Apollo DM's excellent features have not been emulated by other systems? E.g., in Genera 7 writing a char to a window clobbers your window positioning. Apollo has a nifty distinction between windows and pads which cures this bug among many others.) I'm usually just a listener, but dealing with unnecessarily asymmetric user interfaces is one of my pet peeves. -- John Rose