Re: PgUp/PgDown - why Shift???

[Donald Tournier <dtournie ich ucl ac uk>]

The idea is that if you allow the gnome-terminal to use the PgUp/PgDn keys
to scroll, then they will not be available to other terminal-based 
applications such as emacs or pico. You can try it for yourself:

Open a gnome-terminal and type lots of stuff so that you have a good
screenful of lines. Type emacs -nw, and open a largish text file (C-x C-f
to open a file). You can then scroll around the file in emacs using
PgUp/PgDn. Using the shift modifier, it scrolls around the terminal
itself, which is not really what you want. If gnome-terminal grabbed the
PgUp/PgDn keys, they would not be available to applications like emacs and
they would have to use awkward key combinations, so you have to make some
form of compromise somewhere.

Hope that helps,

Donald Tournier.



On Tue, 6 Mar 2001, Andrew Scholer wrote:

Could someone please explain to the unwashed heathen (aka me), why
gnome-terminal wants shift-PgUp to scroll up a page?

The key says "Page Up", not "Jump to the top of the previous command list"
(at least on my keyboard).  The PgUp/Down key causes a screen to scroll a
pageful of material for each key press in most applications that recognize
it (including other gnome aps).

Why in the world does gnome-terminal have this bizzare setup as the default,
and apparently only, configuration? I'm sure there are some people out there
who prefer it this way, but it a) makes little to no intuitive sense, b)
renders the application's behavior in response to this fairly standard key
different than just about everything else out there.

Took me way too long to figure the shift modifier out, and I still find it a
pain to switch keys when paging around in emacs and then I switch to a
gnome-terminal. You can attribute that to my stupidity if you want, but even
so the UI really shouldn't let it come down to my stupidity. It is one thing
for random programs I download off someone's homepage to have an uncommon or
confusing UI, but in an application from a group that is trying to make
Linux easier to use is just mind boggling.

Yes, it is a simple, small complaint. But that's what makes a good user
experience - nailing all those simple, small things.

Andrew Scholer


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