Ctrl, Alt and Menu keys (was: RE: Thinking about a better UI)

Jesse Welton jwelton at pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu
Wed May 19 14:06:29 UTC 1999


Dino wrote:
> 
> Doesn't ctrl-c sound a whole lot more like cancel than command-.?

Sure, but it's no less arbitrary.  That c could just as well stand for
"cut", "copy", "close", "clear", "color", etc.  Even as "cancel" it
could have the sense of "undo last changes".  The operation you have
in mind could also be called "interrupt", "halt", or "stop", all of
which I think are relatively well suggested by a period, and certainly
not by ctrl-c.  Personally, I usually think of the operation as an
interruption of the operation or (in a less technical mood) just "hey,
stop that!"  All of which is not to say that I think ctrl-c for
"cancel" is ill-chosen, just that command-. is every bit as sensible,
and quite possibly more so since it connects more to the operation
than the word you use for the operation.

-Jesse Welton





More information about the Squeak-dev mailing list