Re: [Texmacs-dev] <Del> vs. <Cut>

[Norbert Nemec]

address@hidden wrote:

>Norbert Nemec wrote:
>
>  
>
>>currently, hitting the <Del> key with some text marked is equivalent
>>with doing a <Cut> (Win: Ctrl-X). I.e.: the text in the buffer is
>>replaced.
>>
>>This is not the standard behavior of desktop applications and it is
>>rather annoying in every day use: If you copy some text to the buffer
>>and want to replace several portions of text with that buffer-content
>>    
>>
>
>Alvaro Tejero Cantero wrote:
>
>  
>
>>This is extremely annoying for everybody I know who uses TeXmacs. I have
>>been wondering for long what the motivation might be, to present a solid
>>case in order for this to change.
>>    
>>
>
>I agree.
>
>Referring to the GNU/Linux version, this is also true with
>the Backspace key -- it deletes highlighted text, even if
>that is far from where the cursor is. If I wanted the text
>cut, I would use Ctrl-W, so this behavior is NEVER what I
>want. I use Backspace to delete the character just left of
>the cursor.
>I have often made such accidental deletions. The only reason
>I am able to tolerate this is that undo is just one
>keystroke.  But then I worry -- what if the highlighted text
>is outside the displayed part of the buffer? I might never
>know I had deleted it. A simple test will show that it is
>possible to delete text this way in the off-screen part
>of the document.
>
>  
>
I know that problem, but I believe, it has another reason: The standard
behavior is that marked text is only marked until you move the cursor.
As soon as you move around, the marking is immediately cleared.

This means, that it is usually not even possible to have some text
marked and have the cursor placed somewhere else. Even more: If there is
text marked, you usually do not even see the cursor, but just the marked
text.

Standard behavior is that both <Del> and <Backspace> delete the marked
text (like it happens in TeXmacs). Usually this is quite safe and what
you would expect, since there is no cursor visible at all.