Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!purdue!mentor.cc.purdue.edu!pur-ee!iuvax!bobmon
From: bobmon@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (RAMontante)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: World's best word processor
Message-ID: <21847@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>
Date: 9 Jun 89 13:43:14 GMT
References: <25325@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <14362@watdragon.waterloo.edu>
Reply-To: bobmon@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (RAMontante)
Organization: malkaryotic
Lines: 23

Comments about WP function keys --- when they originally shipped their
first product, there was already a quasi-standard for the Help key in a
system (F1), at least.  WP certainly wasn't a standard at that point,
and their use of function keys was nothing like any of the then-
dominant word processors.

Once I've asked to Exit, *and* told WP to go ahead and save my work,
*then* the "No" default to the repetitious "Exit WP?" question is very
non-intuitive.  I've already had two chances to realize that I've made a
mistake, I just want the annoying thing to shut up and let me get on
with my life.

I don't like needing the template because it slows me down to have to
pull my eyes off the screen (or original material, or wherever) and go
squinting through a little table for the function I want.  The whole
point to "intuitive" function-key bindings is to keep me at my 70 wpm
touch-typing speed, not drag me down to hunt-and-peck speeds.

On the other hand, I know some people who are very dependent on WP, who
are such innocents that they still aren't quite sure what "DOS prompt"
is all about.  They have no opinions about standardized function keys,
and the only way they ever exit WP is with the Big Red Switch, usually
in a state of panic.  (Downright scary).