Re: GtkTextView overtype mode

[Owen Taylor <otaylor redhat com>]

Bill Haneman <bill haneman sun com> writes:

> Joel Brobecker wrote:
> > > Yes, and no. Good point on the cursor thing; hrm, now to find time to
> > > implement it...
> > 
> > Coming from Emacs and vi, I've always used the block cursor. I find the
> > I-beam cursor hard to see and follow when moving it. Would it be
> > possible to allow the usage of the block-cursor even in non-override
> > mode?
> 
> This sounds like something that could be themed to good effect.
> Unfortunately the text-drawing routines themselves don't seem
> installable via theme engines, so this would need to be a global
> parameter.
> 
> There is an upcoming theme patch that addresses some text cursor
> needs, I can have a look.

I don't think a block cursor makes any sense for insertion mode -
Emacs just does it because you can't draw a line on a terminal.

Conceptually:

 - The line indicates the position (or positions for split cursor!)
   where text will be inserted.

 - The overtype block indicates the text that will be replaced by
   a new keystroke.

Trying to customize cursor drawing this radically via theming will
cause problems for handling of bidirectional text and for input method
"preedit" strings.

(I'm not even sure how overtype should work with "preedit" on.)

Regards,
                                        Owen