Re: [RP] mouse stuff (you guys are gonna kill me for this one)

[fist_187]

Shawn Betts wrote:

> One of the big problems (as I see it) and something ratpoison tried to
> help is the constant switching between keyboard and pointer. 

my point exactly.  when i use firebird, i've got my left hand on the 
keybard and my right on the mouse.  (i know i'm talking to keyboard 
purists, but i happen to be faster doing tabbed browsing with the 
mouse.)  in this situation, it would be faster if the mouse could play a 
part in switching frames.


> What I don't understand about these pointer clicks is that you have to
> press C-t first and then move back to the mouse. 

well, i use C-s for my command key, because its next to C-a that i use 
for "screen".  but even C-t is within reach of my left hand on the 
keyboard, so my right hand can stay on the mouse.


> I think what the ratless community really desperately needs is a kbd
> only graphical web-browser. 

> It's true that today, it is convenient sometimes to use the pointer.

this is part of the discussion i was hoping to avoid, but here goes:


the ideal of mouse-less computing is an admirable goal, one which i 
tried to attain for a few months.  after a lot of frustration on trying 
to lose the last 10% of mouse usage (and thusly the use of my favorite 
apps), i realized that:

    ratpoison is not just a mouseless window manager

sure, that may have been the vision, but what has transpired is a 
wonderfully lowfat window manager with every attention paid to 
eliminating hand movement between input devices.  the keyboard-only 
approach has done miracles to that end, but i'm not looking to snip my 
ps/2 cable; i'm looking for the fastest most efficient window manager. 
i believe ratpoison is it.

what the keyboard purists need to remember is that no amount of keyboard 
functionality can make the mouse any less useful; conversly, no amount 
of mouse functionality can make the keyboard any less useful.  think 
about it... ratpoison is to the keyboard what the tablet PC is to the 
mouse. as helpful as the tablet's handwriting recognition or virtual 
keyboard is, you wouldn't write a 500 page novel with it.  the keyboard 
is similiarly helpless when it comes to GIMP.

i dont want to see ratpoison all of a sudden sell out to boatload of 
mouse functionality.  i just think it shouldn't be overlooked in the 
interface design.  i think the mouse should have a niche, however small, 
in the control of ratpoison.

-ian