Re: Text Entry [Re: direct text input for UML-message]

[Lars Clausen <lrclause cs uiuc edu>]

On Mon, 10 Feb 2003, James K. Lowden wrote:
> On 10 Feb 2003 16:21:03 -0600, Lars Clausen <lrclause cs uiuc edu> wrote:
> > On Mon, 10 Feb 2003, Alan Horkan wrote:
> > > If you use TAB to move between fields then you cannot put tabs in your
> > > text boxes.
> >
> > True, unless we add some escape sequence.  But how often do you need to
> > put a tab in a text box?  They don't really have a well-defined meaning
> > there. Tab is so commonly known as 'move to next input' that I think we
> > can make that the general behaviour.
>
> You can decide for yourself if it's a feature or not, but I've used
> applications that use TAB to 'move to next input' and ^I to insert a tab.

That sounds like a good compromise (if ^I doesn't register as a tab).

> It's a little hard to remember sometimes that TAB leaves the textbox, but
> not nearly so annoying as the alternative: *failing* to leave the textbox
> and accidentally altering its text.

Exactly.

> Tabs are somewhat useful in textboxes whose contents are somewhat
> structured.  

Somewhat.  Such structure really should be done with something slightly
spreadsheet-like.

-Lars

-- 
Lars Clausen (http://shasta.cs.uiuc.edu/~lrclause)| Hårdgrim of Numenor
"I do not agree with a word that you say, but I   |----------------------------
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