[Geany] default keybindings, revisited

[John Gabriele]

On 8/31/07, Nick Treleaven <nick.treleaven at btinternet.com> wrote:
> On 08/30/2007 12:47:00 PM, Nick Treleaven wrote:
> > On 08/30/2007 12:22:52 PM, blackdog wrote:
> > >
> > > Deleting lines is something I do a lot of so I tend to think that
> > > a highly used action shouldn't be 3 keys away.
> >
> > Yes, this was also mentioned by John Gabriele. I still think it might
> > be better for copy and cut to be together, but maybe delete lines
> > should be something easier to type - ctrl-J maybe (just because it's
> > near k,l)?
>
> Another idea: keep ctrl-K for delete lines (it's the Emacs binding, for
> one thing, and it's the most common of the 3. Also I think of it as
> Kill lines...)
>
> Then to make cut lines and copy lines more on an equal footing:
> ctrl-shift-x    cut lines
> ctrl-shift-c    copy lines
>
> At least that would be easy to remember.

For GUI apps, folks strongly associate Ctrl-{X,C} with {cut,copy}. If
you want to use the Shift key to "extend" the cut or copy operation, I
don't think it makes sense to have it deal only specifically with
lines. Why not words? Or paragraphs?

I think there's a temptation to try and associate key combos to every
feature one can. In this case, unless there's a fair number of users
who frequently use cut-current-line and copy-current-line regularly, I
think they could stand to be dropped from the default key bindings.
Most users will probably instead always just use Shift-Alt-{W,L,P} to
select the thing they want, then use Ctrl-{X,C}. Or else they'll use
Shift with the arrow keys, or even ... {gulp} ... the mouse. :)

Ctrl-K works well to cut the current line, and I think lots of folks
are familiar with it, so I think it makes a good default key combo.
One nice thing you might add to the preferences is to let users
configure whether Ctrl-K cuts the whole current line, or else cuts
from the current cursor position to the end of the line (as Emacs
does). GNU nano has an option like this.

Regarding using Ctrl-Alt rather than Shift-Alt: I think it's more
consistent to use Shift-Alt as the default, since it's analogous to
using Shift-Ctrl. Also, Ctrl-Alt-D and Ctrl-Alt-L would conflict with
Gnome (as previously mentioned). However, for folks using keyboards
that make Shift-Alt a difficult combo to hit, how about adding an item
in the Preferences to globally use Ctrl-Alt in place of Shift-Alt?

Regarding the issue with Ctrl-U and Shift-Ctrl-U: changing the case of
a selection, though useful, seems like a *relatively* rarely-needed
feature. IMO, you could drop these two default key bindings, letting
users reach them via Alt-E F {L,U} -- which is actually pretty
mnemonic in itself (it reads like "edit format {lower,upper}").

By the way, as long as we're revisiting keyboard shortcuts, I think it
makes more sense to use Ctrl-{Up,Down} to go up and down by paragraph
(instead of Ctrl-[ and Ctrl-], which I just now notice aren't listed
in the "Help --> Keyboard Shortcuts" dialog). Both combos are easy
enough to hit, but Ctrl-{Up,Down} seems to make more sense, given what
Ctrl-{Right,Left} do. Currently, Ctrl-{Up,Down} scroll the window
by-line which I think is more of a GUI operation that should maybe be
associated with an Alt-key combo (like Alt-{Up,Down}).

---John