{bad habits] Squeak for Windows - Ctrl instead of Alt key

Lex Spoon lex at cc.gatech.edu
Sun Oct 14 19:21:24 UTC 2001


I think we should keep things as much the same on each platform as
possible.  We are trying to build a new media system where people can
talk to *each other*, and the keystrokes available form part of the
common language.  Keystrokes of all things get really ingrained in a
person's psyche; they're one thing that we really *don't* want to
change.

On the other hand, in my experience it's really not hard to deal with
different keystrokes in *different* applications.  When I'm in Netscape,
I just know that I'm supposed to hit alt-c.  When I'm in emacs, I just
know I'm supposed to hit alt-d.  I never mess this up -- it's very
obvious when I'm in one app or the other.  On the other hand, when I use
Squeak on MS Windows with the 2-button mouse binding, I mess up
constantly.  It's harder to remember what platform you are Squeaking on,
than that you are Squeaking at all.

Now if we do make this configurable, let's at least make it a VM
setting, not an image preference.  Squeak images are shared around, and
when you start up an image you should get the bindings that *you* want,
not the bindings that the image's author set.  Notice that, right now,
nobody cares that I write my code with Dvorak.  However, a lot of people
would be annoyed if I sent them an image with Dvorak bindings set within
the image...  And I'd be very annoyed having to type in Qwerty when I
downloaded someone else's image!


-Lex




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