Thanks for the lively discussion :) This is actually a somewhat common problem for me, and I understand the value of asking that new users acclimate to a new interface, but in this particular instance, I have to disagree:
First, the current behavior is a small (but important) violation of the principle of least astonishment: in all other office applications, typing a backspace either has a small effect or it deletes the current selection. I have also never observed the behavior of "typing a backspace selects something" in any other office application. Second, the canonical workaround (typing a left arrow key) is a burden since it means the user has to move his/her right hand to the arrow keys. This constitutes an interruption to the flow of typing if the user finishes a formula, types a few words outside a formula, then decides to rework the formula. Personally this is a very common activity, but I would hazard a guess that any user who is, say, typing up marginally legible class notes, would be in this position moderately frequently. The issue is not the time saved (which is trivial) but rather the necessary interruption of flow. So the argument is that the following change to the behavior of the backspace key is both easier to learn for new users and more useful for all users: * Both inside and outside math, typing a backspace when the cursor is adjacent to the right hand side of an inset moves the cursor to the last position of the left-adjacent inset; typing a backspace has an effect identical to typing the left arrow key. To the positive argument that users get used to the existing behavior in practice, I would agree that it is possible for users to get used to this behavior, but I would add the normative argument that users should not have to adapt to accommodate a behavior that is (even marginally) astonishing. To the argument that such behavior would be superfluous since it would mean that there are two keys that perform the same action, consider the identical behavior of the space key and the right arrow when the cursor is in the last position of a math inset. Or the identical behavior of the down arrow key and the tab key when in the cursor is in the numerator of a fraction. I can only speak for myself: I find the action of the tab and space keys to be very useful. David On 9/3/07, Andre Poenitz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Mon, Sep 03, 2007 at 10:56:56AM +0200, Helge Hafting wrote: > > >This is easily remedied by typing undo, > > >but it is a minor nuisance. The behavior my "automatic brain" expects > > >is either > > > > > >A) what you would get by typing a left arrow followed by a backspace > > > > > You mean left arrow + delete I guess? > > >B) what you would get by typing a left arrow > > > > Well, backspace always erases something. > > Well, not really. Within math if the cursor is behind an 'complex inset' > that ordinarily would be removed by backspace we first select the inset > and only the second backspace actually deletes it. It has been like that > for a while and I think people rather like it. We could do the same > outside math. > > Andre' > -- David Pokorny (415) 730-3722 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
