Wanting to lookup 'error' in a JUnit log file, I hit Ctrl-F on my editor. It says something to the effect 'No occurrence found'. Hey, but I haven't even entered my lookup term! Argh, this is TextPad with default key bindings. F5 is for lookup, Ctrl-F for next. General problem - different apps use different default key bindings to perform the same logical action. This is probably the single biggest nuisance factor switching between IntelliJ and Eclipse.
Now how about if we had namespace separated logical action definitions at the OS level (namespace:logicalAction=>KeyBinding)? For example, the 'text editor' key binding namespace would have definitions like {openFile=>Ctrl-O, closeFile=>Ctrl-F4, Find=>Ctrl-F, FindNext=>F3...}. Every text editor would then defer to the OS level settings to understand the key bindings for these logical actions. The bindings may be overridden at a user profile level but a user won't have to learn/unlearn key bindings for different editors. For different classes for applications, just define a generic namespace (word processor, spreadsheet, browser, IDE) and the corresponding logical actions.
Now how about if we had namespace separated logical action definitions at the OS level (namespace:logicalAction=>KeyBinding)? For example, the 'text editor' key binding namespace would have definitions like {openFile=>Ctrl-O, closeFile=>Ctrl-F4, Find=>Ctrl-F, FindNext=>F3...}. Every text editor would then defer to the OS level settings to understand the key bindings for these logical actions. The bindings may be overridden at a user profile level but a user won't have to learn/unlearn key bindings for different editors. For different classes for applications, just define a generic namespace (word processor, spreadsheet, browser, IDE) and the corresponding logical actions.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.