Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bass.cis.ohio-state.edu!gaynor From: gaynor@bass.cis.ohio-state.edu (james e. gaynor) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: WB 1.4 Enhancements, Life Without a Mouse Message-ID: <35057@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> Date: 14 Feb 89 01:13:53 GMT References: <8902131734.AA11006@jade.berkeley.edu> Sender: news@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu Reply-To: james e. gaynor Organization: Ohio State University Computer and Information Science Lines: 39 In article <8902131734.AA11006@jade.berkeley.edu> MOLNARRM@UREGINA1.BITNET (Dennis Gorrie) writes: > >Is it true that one of WB 1.4's goals is to make the Workbench itself more >useful? If so, I would like to suggest it be made more useful, without the >mouse. > >I liked the mouse at first, but now I hate to take my fingers off the keyboard >it just seems to slow things down when I have to reach for the mouse. > >Has everyone here tried FuncKey? It is a macro program that also lets you >assign keys to cycle through all the windows and screens currently running >on your system. > >It would be nice if all program menus, including Workbench, had >amiga-key menu short-cuts. This is a lot of what I'd like to see, too. I know you guys are going to hate the comparison, but a lot of this sounds like some of the better features of Mac OS. Command key equivalents are standard on almost all Mac programs, as well as in the OS, for things like opening files, making new directories, and almost everything else you can do. (there's even a set for ejecting from a given drive, but since the Ami has a manual eject...) Also, a standard INIT that comes with the Mac System allows keyboard control (thru keypad) of all mouse functions, including click-and-drag, and double-click. (this is aimed mostly at handicaped users). Now my purpose wasn't to say how great Mac OS is (no comment) but to show the things that could be used to make the Workbench a _real_ environment rather than the joke it is. And I didn't even mention the features that Apple would sue for copying . The basic line is that if Workbench is going to be worth anything, it needs to be made more powerful. All it is right now is a toy, and if CBM doesn't consider it worth improving, they may as well drop it in further versions. -=- | Jim Gaynor..."The Vampire Lestat" Internet: gaynor@cis.ohio-state.edu | | "There is a girl in NYC who calls herself the human tramopline. And some- | | -times when I'm falling and flying or tumbling in turmoil I say Oh, so | | this is what she means..." -Paul Simon, Graceland. |