Re: Reunify browse and edit modes?

   E. E. Mellor writes:
   >I have recently been thinking that I would like Amaya to change certain
   >factors of its behaviour when in read-only (browsing) mode.  For example,
   >following links and pressing buttons could be single-click actions instead
   >of double-clicks. 

You are confusing two different kinds of customization.  Key and mouse
bindings should be separate from whether or not you turn on a
read-only mode.  It goes without saying that you should not have any
trouble rebinding mouse clicks or other keys using the
`amaya.keyboard' file or a front end to that file.  
Bindings are a matter of preference.

"Adam J. Richter" <adam@yggdrasil.com> writes:

   The analogy to view mode in text editors is misleading,
   because view mode just disables certain commands rather than rebinding
   new commands.

I disagree.  Perhaps we are talking at cross purposes.  I think a
read-only mode should consist of disabling certain commands as you say
and, as with view-mode, adding just a few more.  The change in
interface should be minimal.

When a user wants a truly different user interface, like a different
theme in a Window manager such as Enlightenment, then the user should
install a different theme.

"Adam J. Richter" <adam@yggdrasil.com> goes on to say:

           Also, there is the is a semi-political issue here.  As I
   understand the situation, the Amaya teams wants to focus on doing
   research on editing, ...

Yes, I think this is very true.

   ... I think that we in the peanut gallery should try to arrange our
   contributions so that they improve the editor functionality when they
   improve the browser functionality.  Not splitting the user interface
   into two modes would probably be helpful in this regard.

Again, I think there is somewhat of a confusion among the various
meanings of `functionality'.  Part of the functionality is a question
of human factors and the default human-machine interface that has to
do with layout, colors, keys, mice, and menus.  Another part of the
functionality has to do with internal mechanisms a user `sees' only
through the filter provided by one or other interface.

Indeed, the Amaya teams are able to test and research editing more
easily when they can change interfaces easily and separately from
internals.

For example, <adam@yggdrasil.com> suggests:

           o Use shift-click to select a object for editing.  If I move
             between objects that I am editing, it is pretty deliberate.

It should be easy for the Amaya teams and for any of the rest of us to
try this out.  (For example, I remember changing `amaya.keyboard' on
some earlier version, to provide different keybindings.  But I don't
remember how to change mouse bindings and don't see examples of mouse
bindings in the `amaya.keyboard' or `amaya.kb' files, where I expect
to see them.)

Indeed, as  <adam@yggdrasil.com> concludes:

           o In the long run, the key bindings should be configurable and
             and should even be able to call user defined Java functions.
             The built-in button bars should probably someday be replaced by
             HTML+Java too.  Then we could have contests for cool button
             bars. :-)
Yes!

-- 

    Robert J. Chassell                  bob@rattlesnake.com
    Rattlesnake Enterprises             http://www.rattlesnake.com

Received on Thursday, 21 January 1999 08:15:11 UTC