Re: scroll bar and drop down list usability

[Jim Leigh <james leigh bigfoot com>]

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> > IMHO, cut and paste are important enough to have named keys on the
> > keyboard. Why we have "Scroll Lock" and "Esc" but not "Paste" is totally
> > mysterious to me.
> 
> Good idea, but giving them their own keys would slow down using them
> (because you'd have to move away from the home row).  C-[xcv] were
> originally chosen, iirc, because they were easy to type.

I don't buy that argument. I only have a limited understanding of
efficiency estimation (such as GOMS), but I don't recall anything about
where a key is located affecting the efficiency calculation. Also,
if a user has just made a selection, she is probably holding the mouse,
not resting on home row. For a right handed person, cut/paste keys
arranged on the left would be very efficient -- they could be easily
pressed while holding the mouse. (It's a shame that we don't have left
handed keyboards; maybe a detachable function key pad would be a good
solution.) Last, the idea that a chord is easier to type than a single
key is very surprising to me. A group of keys on the left side of the
keyboard should be easily reached with the left pinky finger; no
chords, no stretching.

- Ken
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I really think using Alt-xcv would be the ways to go, like in Netscape. 
It would not be too much for the user to get in the swing of using Alt
instead.  Also I think it is an advantage to copy text just by
highlighting it, like in emacs.

- new user