Re: Default Emacs keybindings

[Miles Bader]

On Fri, Apr 30, 2004 at 03:06:00PM +0200, Per Abrahamsen wrote:
> And no, I do not agree that the Emacs key bindings are inherently
> superior for experienced users.  They just happen to be what we are
> used to.

Well it kind of depends on _which_ keybindings you're talking about -- some
emacs keybindings are just familiar, but others are pretty clearly more
better in some cases.  Obviously C-w is basically no better or worse than
C-x, but the emacs-movment vs. arrow keys issue is quite different, the
former being (obviously) far more efficient for a user that meets their
criteria, but the latter being easier for an inexperienced user.

Unfortunately in this limited namespace, it's hard to mix'n'match (despite
Kim's valiant efforts), but luckily we _can_ have both arrow keys and
emacs-movement keys.

Also luckily, emacs is popular enough among developers that a lot of
non-emacs software either understands basic emacs keystrokes (mozilla) or can
be easily configured to do so (gnome).

-Miles
-- 
`The suburb is an obsolete and contradictory form of human settlement'