[openbox] Full screen windows auto raise using sloppy focus

Walter Alejandro Iglesias eloi at roquesor.com
Mon Oct 13 05:51:24 EDT 2014


On Sun, Oct 12, 2014 at 01:33:04PM -0700, Ian Zimmerman wrote:
> On Sun, 12 Oct 2014 11:25:16 +0200,
> Walter Alejandro Iglesias <eloi at roquesor.com> wrote:
>
> Walter> I'd just add emacs an vi keys to arrows, to avoid to move the
> Walter> right hand out of the keyboard.  And remove key accelerators
> Walter> (useless, since in some cases they force you to use the arrows
> Walter> anyway).  I'm pretty sure that will make everybody happy ;-).
>
> No, no, no.
>
> I use the menu accelerators all the time.  Hitting the same letter key
> (the 1st letter of the item) 2 or 3 times is way easier than having to
> remember some g*dawful cryptic combination derived from an editor.

Remember?  Quite the opposite.  I've learnt and got used to emacs/vi
keystrokes because I'm sure is what I'll find any time I login in any
Unix system.  I'd adopt kindly any "new version of the wheel" if I found
it of any help in the practical sense.  To have to change my typing
habits again and again isn't neither funny nor interesting.  By the way,
I don't think Bill Joy intention was to make vi use "cryptic", I think
he chose hjkl keys because its ergonomic placement (for the same reason
to use arrow keys isn't clever).

Of course I noticed the menu feature you point me (hitting the same
letter).  Tell me, if you typed the wrong letter, or change your mind,
how do you change to an item starting with a different letter?  Most of
the time it's too late, you've started the wrong application, you have
to wait it gets opened, to kill it and to open again your menu.  Again,
you cannot freely navigate the menu without using arrows.

Vi keys, like arrows are intuitive, and they let you freely navigate the
menu but without losing time in moving your hand out of the keyboard.
The application isn't started unless you hit Enter, what makes it more
reliable.  Accelerators force you to pay attention and make a decision on
each case, that's why it's easy in a hurry (while you're paying
attention to your work) to type the wrong one.

You're suggesting that what Unix users have used for decades is obsolete
and selling us a square wheel.


	Walter




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