Text Cursor Movement Via Arrow Keys

[Jason Simanek <jsimanek gmail com>]

Hi,

I don't know if this is the place to discuss this, but I have a
request concerning text cursor movement as it is controlled via the
arrow keys on the keyboard.

Currently on all Linux desktops that I am aware of the text cursor can
be moved like this via the UP and DOWN arrow keys:

up arrow
move cursor to next text line up - if at top-most text line do nothing

down arrow
move cursor to next text line down - if at bottom-most text line do nothing


This is the same way that Windows moves the text cursor. It isn't very
efficient and forces the user to lay on the left or right arrow keys
to get to the very beginning or the very end or the text block.

I've used Mac OS (7-9 and OSX) at school and at work for 20+ years
now. Nobody wants to hear it, but Apple has developed a very useful
behavior for moving the text cursor via the arrow keys. Here's how the
Apple OS behavior works:

up arrow
move cursor to next text line up - if at top-most text line, move
cursor to beginning of text block/text input

down arrow
move cursor to next text line down - if at bottom-most text line, move
cursor to end of text block/text input


It seems to me that since the current Linux behavior at the top-most
and bottom-most lines is to do nothing, adding this new functionality
would only benefit every user. Would this be a behavior that is
controlled by the desktop environment? Would Gnome be interested in
discussing this new functionality?

Thanks for listening. Sincerely,

Jason Simanek