From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 05:54:20 -0400
From: Nigel Roles ngr@symbionics.co.uk
Subject: keyboard accelerators
Topicbox-Message-UUID: 0c871478-eac8-11e9-9e20-41e7f4b1d025
Message-ID: <19950411095420.3YjR6bWADR4NXXxekuI66RzIWRtjxj-OWySMnAEQhrU@z>

> >>If I (as a hypothetical example) add keyboard accelerators to Acme,
> 
> >150 hours of community service for that one, i think.
> 
> I'm not so sure about this.  A mouse is nice, true, but it takes time to get
> your hands from the keyboard to the mouse and back again (especially back
> again, since you have to reposition them, e.g. if you're a touch typist).
> 
> Until we have better/more integrated keyboard/mouse input devices (e.g. on
> one of the PC shows I saw a keyboard split in two, with each half acting as a
> mouse by you just moving it around with [roughly] the palm of your hand), I
> think the keyboard will remain very valuable.  For example, (one of the reasons
> :-) I don't like Netscape is that it doesn't have easy keyboard shortcuts.
> 
> What do people (especially Plan9 ones :-) think?
> 
Point 1: I use Netscape heavily, and never noticed it had 
accelerators. I think this speaks volumes.

Point 2: MSW claims to be drivable by keyboard or mouse. The reality 
is the mouse is vital, and the keyboard occasionally useful. Too many 
applications _shirk_ providing decent mouse interactions because they 
must support the keyboard as well to keep His Eminence happy.

Point 3: I find having to use the mouse to make small local movements 
in sam (eg up/down 1 line) a pain when I am in full typing flood. 
This is about the only specialised keyboard stuff I miss. I guess 
because I used predecessors of the Plan 9 WM before I used 
MSW, I've a pretty good idea that acceleration is not all it's 
cracked up to be. Also when you see, eg, all the X crud needed 
to cope, the minimalist instinct comes on very strongly... 

Summary. No, please, no, except maybe up and down arrow when editing.