[Oberon] PO2013 - System.CloseTrack / System.ExtendDisplay

[Skulski, Wojciech]

Andreas:

this is great. The drawback of the commands, and of Text User Interface (TUI) in general, is that the commands need be present on every screen. A hot key would be a hot alternative (pun intended). The difference between the TUI and the hot key is how the hands are operated. Being right handed, I need to operate the mouse (right hand) to execute the TUI command. It is OK, but I need to move my right hand from the keyboard to grab the mouse. With hot keys I can execute the hot key combination with the fingers of my left hand. Hold down the modifier key and press the letter. 

The CTRL-N, CTRL-B are actually not optimal due to the distance between the CTRL and the letter. A better combination would be CTRL-Q, CTRL-W which can be executed with one hand. But this is not standard in any sense. This brings a thought: the hot keys could be defined by the user at run time rather than built in. The user can then modify the keyboard for a given task.

Imagine a file with associations CTRL-"key" = Module.Command. Such a file can be defined for a given task. Looking at my keyboard and how my fingers work I think that the CTRL and ALT modifiers can be used equally well. 

A predefined "hot key file" can be then supplied as a part of the system distribution. The file can then be cloned and modified for a given task. A default file can be restored by the user when the work has been finished.

This mechanism can provide an ergonomical alternative to the menus, if it is not overused. The mechanism should not be hardwired into the software itself, because the finger dexterity is not distributed equally. A file which can be modified by the end user would be a useful optional system feature.

Just my two cents.

Thank you,
Wojtek

________________________________________
From: Oberon [oberon-bounces at lists.inf.ethz.ch] on behalf of Andreas Pirklbauer [andreas_pirklbauer at yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, May 3, 2019 1:12 AM
To: ETH Oberon and related systems
Subject: [Oberon]  PO2013 - System.CloseTrack / System.ExtendDisplay

    > How about making it round-robin? Imagine three or more tracks on top of each other.
    > Imagine CTRL-N cycling forward to the "next track", CTRL-B cycling back.

The two commands

   System.NextDisplay     (like CTRL-N)
   System.PrevDisplay     (like CTRL-B)

in EO do exactly that … but with entire (virtual) displays instead of tracks.


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