Re: SEUL: Text Editor neded

[Kevin Forge <forgeltd@pop.netaddress.usa.net>]

Jeffrey wrote:
> 
> The only bad thing about edit is that if the mouse isn't working for
> some
> reason then many people don't know to use the alt key. The display
>
That can be "fixed" by having a display at the bottom or top of the
screen
 starting.
"ALT to access menu, Arrow keys to navigate menu, enter to run command"
The wording may need polishing ( I'm no linguist ) but it needs not be
any longer than that.
>
> in ae and pico are a little more obvious and my mother seems to have
> had less problem with pico then she does now with IE for her email.
> I'm sure she could figure out any of these easy to use editors we are
> discussing.
>
Beautiful test case : give her a command prompt and a 2 page text file
and
tell her to type 'edit foo.txt' and then perform some simple editing
task
in the document ( do not say how it's done ) Like correcting spelling
and
grammar, or indenting paragraphs.  ( no more than 2 pages so all can be
done
manually )
>
> Another thing I've seen is that many people don't know that ^ means ctrl
> which I have heard called the "central key".
> My concern right now is that the key bindings displayed in ae's menu
> will not
> be the same for all terminals.
> 
> Someone mentioned a bug in ae earlier. Is it fixable?
> 
> I tell people to use edit in dos all the time while doing telephone
> tech support. Truth is notepad is just edit in a window. They are both
> easy
> to use because they are both very similar.
>
Thank you.  It seams that doing this is the only way for a techy to 
really appreciate a text editor's ease of use. 
>
>                                              -Jeff
> 
> Kevin Forge wrote:
> >
> > David Freeman wrote:
> > >
> > > Oops, sorry about that, forgot to send it to seul-project, too.
> > >
> > I was the only one inconvenienced.  Therefor it's not a problem
> > >
> > > Most users of SEUL won't even know how to use EDIT.COM.  They know how
> > > to use Notepad and Wordpad.
> > >
> > I have evidence to the contrary.  This has happened 3 times ( exact
> > scenario )
> > User downloads Macafee AV 95 and installs it only his system.  System
> > reboots
> > and hangs in the autoexec.bat,
> > User calls me in desperation and I explain over the phone.
> > 1 : reboot the machine and keep hitting F8 as soon as it shows "the grid
> >     with numbers and words in the top 1/2 of your screen"
> > 2 : you will get a menu of choices.  choose the last one "safe mode
> >     command prompt only"
> > 3 : press enter and wait a while, when you see the 'C:\_' just type in
> >     edit.autoexec.bat
> > 4 : Look for the line that has "macafee" in it ( this is the hard part,
> > and
> >     takes the longest )
> > 5 : put the word REM at the beginning of that line then save and exit.
> > 6 : reboot the machine and I'll be there to "finish fixing it" in a few
> >     hours.
> > All this without telling the user how edit.com works.
> > >
> > > We need a good clone of WordPad.  A current example of this is Nedit.
> > > Unfortunately, Nedit is not under the GPL.  However, Kedit is a good
> > > example of a Notepad replacement.
> > >
> > > Singel-letter access to menus should be defined by SEUL widget set (GTK,
> > > etc.), not the application itself.
> > >
> > > Kevin Forge wrote:
> > > >
> > > > "Intuitive, Software" ; Noun, any program the user already knows how to use.
> > > > A Major hurdle for me when migrating to Linux was figuring out which text
> > > > editor to use ... I found vi intimidating and joe while much better was a whole
> > > > new interface.  My suggestion ... Give the users a Text editor they already
> > > >know.
> > > > i.e... A clone of EDIT.COM,  The chances of getting computer illiterates to even
> > > > try Linux ( as a first OS ) are quite slim.  However everyone who has ever used
> > > > Any of the none unix OSs will already know how to use edit, since it's interface
> > > > is shared by Word Perfect,  MsWord and a zillion other apps.  Powerful features
> > > > and keystroke combos for all the odd formatting tasks programers use are
> > > > not necessary ( Nothing more fancy than search and replace ), and defiantly a
> > > > single key drop down menu ( Map it to alt by default but allow mapping to other
> > > > keys ).  It doesn't mater if it runs properly on a terminal, SEUL is for the
> > > > home or office user who will be running X on her own PC anyway.
> > >
> > >   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> > : backbone, bounced from satellite, Nothing but net."
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-- 
: "Through the firewall, out the router, down the T1, across the
: backbone, bounced from satellite, Nothing but net."
: 	remove BAD.SPAM or your replies will go astray.
: "OpenScape 5.0 ; The Browser of the future" : http://www.openscape.com