modifier duplicating/swapping (was Re: "A Word of Caution" to all newcomers)

lex at cc.gatech.edu lex at cc.gatech.edu
Sun Dec 5 13:44:46 UTC 2004


Doug Way <dway at mailcan.com> wrote:
> I am sensing a groundswell of support for dupMain. :)
> 
> dupMain is already implemented as the duplicateControlAndAltKeys 
> preference.  I kind of assumed this pref was actually losing the 
> original 8 "Upper-case command keys" (as the help/command-key help 
> describes them).  Such as cmd-V which displays author initials.  But it 
> looks like these are actually already available with the ctrl-shift 
> modifier.  So, ctrl-shift-v works right now to paste author initials.  
> (At least it works on Mac OS X, can anyone confirm for Linux & 
> Windows?)

I started to redo my analysis with Doug's comments, but since dupMain
seems fairly popular I'll skimp out on finishing it unless someone
speaks up.  (So, speak up quickly if you prefer one of the swap*
variants!!)

I still like dupAll better, because of the documentation issue.  With
dupAll, you can say things like:

	Whenever the docs say "cmd-key", you should press and hold alt, ctrl,
cmd, or meta,
	and then press "key".  To do cut-and-paste, use cmd-x and cmd-v.  To
open an
	inspector, use cmd-i.  To open an explorer, use cmd-shift-i.
	
	
With dupMain, you have to say something like:

	Whenever the docs say "cmd-key", you should press and hold alt, ctrl,
cmd, or meta,
	and then press "key".  Whenever the docs say "alt-key", you should
press alt and then
	press the "key", unless you are on a Mac, in which case you should
press cmd and then
	"key", or unless you are on some Unix machines, in which case you
should press meta
	and then "key".
	
	To do cut-and-paste, use cmd-x and cmd-v.  To open an
	inspector, use alt-i.  To open an explorer, use cmd-shift-i.


Yes, it's very reasonable, but I'd slightly prefer to have the shorter
descriptions than to have some shorter keystrokes.

If I'm the only one, then I bow out, and suggest we simply turn on this
#duplicateControlAndAltKeys preference.


-Lex



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