Xref: utzoo comp.editors:309 comp.emacs:4083 comp.unix.questions:8985
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!cornell!rochester!ritcv!cci632!dch
From: dch@cci632.UUCP (David C. Howland)
Newsgroups: comp.editors,comp.emacs,comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: Looking for a Simple Text Editor
Message-ID: <17813@cci632.UUCP>
Date: 26 Aug 88 14:09:54 GMT
References: <4912@fluke.COM>
Reply-To: dch@ccird3.UUCP (David C. Howland)
Organization: CCI, Communications Systems Division, Rochester, NY
Lines: 38

In article <4912@fluke.COM> pwl@tc.fluke.COM (Paul Lutt) writes:
>I have been asked by one of our users to try to obtain a "simple to
>learn and use" visual text editor.  He considers vi and emacs to be
>much too complicated for the casual user.  He also considers the PC-
>based WordPerfect to be too complicated.

     One the the engineers here wrote an  "easy-mode" for GNUemacs. Instead
     of taking functionally out of emacs easy-mode hides it. To get back to
     full Emacs one types C-cC-c.

     Easy-mode uses soft keys and a display  menu. On  the menu  are simple
     functions such as find-file and save-buffer.

This is an example display menu. (much prettier than this and reverse video).
______________________  ______________________________  _______________________
|find| save  |switch |  | grep| next | shell|compare |  | other |two    | next|
|file| buffer|buffer |  |     | error|      |window  |  | window|windows| menu|
----------------------  ------------------------------  -----------------------

      The terminal we use in house has two lines at the top of the terminal
      that are not accessible to emacs normally. On these two lines are the
      display menu.

      By typing "next menu" (last entry on the example  line above) pops up
      the next menu and binds the soft  keys to the currently displayed menu.
      Shifted next menu takes you  back one menu.  The menus are circular so
      hitting next menu will eventuality take you  back  to the menu you are
      currently on.

      To add functionality to easy-mode requires  a  table change  to allow
      the new function and to add/update the menus.

      Easy-mode is soooo easy even a ....... could figure it out!


Goal in life:

     The eradication of vi!    :-)