[Haskell-cafe] Re: Editor (OT: keyboard mouse / one device + my 2 cents)

[Marc Weber]

I did think about this topic many times.
My conclusion: We need some other kind of interface (keyboard and mouse
at the same time which would speed up your workflow very often,
especially when doing some kind of graphics where you have to enter some
text)..

One solution I did find is http://www.combimouse.com/index.htm .. 
But I have'nt been able to afford this nice idea to test it.
Another is one is http://www.jazzmutant.com/lemur_overview.php 
(too expensive to be buyed by me in the near future ..  )
Another example is the iPod ...
  stop
<<   >>  move the finger to on the surface to scroll 
  play   (or something like this), I don't have one.

I totally agree that you can't say the one is faster than the other way.

When I'm faster using the keyboard (Perhaps I only think I am? :)
  finding logout (find as you type firefox), because I can even reach
  the link if it's not in the visible area.
  
  Finding directories I use often (because I don't have to look at many
  files/ directories I'm not interested in.. Perhaps my visual
  perception is not as fast as the perception of others?)
  Compare using property editors with code (find property visibility in
  either alphabetical or sectioned)..

  Finding menus on Windows (Because the move very often if you install
  new software, work on foreign computers etc).. But that's why tools
  like lounchy (windows) exist.

  Moving Windows using wmii (althoug nifty windows for Win is very nice
  as well, but you have to take off your hands..)

  scrolling (using page down/ space / return application dependend)

  tying gimp<tab> instead of (where the hell is that icon? Oh no it
  looks different because I have a newer version ..)

  using special commands such as goto previous cursor position...

  Opening files using glob patterns in vim (having mapped **/*
  (eg :e **/*some.hs<tab><cr> )
  Opening most recent files having them listed in a buffer where I can
  use search. (compare this to File -> Open -> c:\MyProjects\..... )

I'm faster using the mouse:
  navigating in directories I don't know..
  (But often I use something like find | less to get an overview )

  ... 

My friend is using the mouse most often. He is very fast. But Sometimes
you can't get as fast as using the keyboard because you have to wait
till the application pops up the window so that you "see" where to
click. (Example: A lot of windows Dialogs (Eg change the PATH variable))

Anyway it would be really interesting to use 2 mice for some tasks.
Then you can use one for scrolling and the other to click and drag.
Or you can put both on menu items (where you think they'll pop up such
as File -> save) and click in sequence. But this havily depends on the
application. Eg MS office (Not the new redisigned gui) is horrible
because it does always hide the menu items I'm looking for (perhaps
because I'm not using them very often or I don't know yet how to switch
them off). Another horrible examples are tex editors wether you can click
on buttons inserting \alpha \beta etc. Then you are switching between
keyboard and mouse all the time.

If the mouse is faster why does eclipse have so much opportunities to
filter lists/ trees ?

But I do know that I really like tools such as xfig / inckscape because
they have the keyboard shortcuts I need (select tools/ view ..)
And you are definitely faster using them using the mouse to select the
tool and moving back. But of course you have to learn them.

When watching my sister or my father using the mouse very often they
simply click on the small triangle (step up / down) in scrollbars
instead of PageUp/Down. But this is a kind of usage pattern which can be
<========================[     ] ====>
step  page left           move    ....
left
improved by using scrolling (middle mouse button click), maximizing the
window (Windows often doesn't permit this, eg when customizing menus or
shortcuts (Visual Studio/ Word etc) before scrolling down a
list etc..

I hope I didn't talk too much and that you have found some stuff  in this
post you didn't know already ...

Marc

PS: How would mouse gestures compare to keyboard shortcuts concerning
the 2 seconds amnesia having been mentioned in article some posts ago?