Re: [Usability]close vs quit

[Gregory Merchan <merchan phys lsu edu>]

On Tue, May 28, 2002 at 02:44:03PM -0400, Ingalls wrote:
> I have to dig out my old CUA docs, but I remember that the proper 
> keybindings are
> Ctl-F4    close window
> Alt-F4    quit
> 
> Unfortunately, these are not the bindings that Gnome has chosen.
> I recall these bindings in the CUA compliant OS/2, Motif & MS Windows.

Not in OS/2 Versions 2.0-3.0. There is no Quit (or Exit) item in those.
Quit (and Exit) are not proper parts of object-oriented user interfaces.
Neither is MDI, but you can find that in at least one OS/2 3.0 program.

In CUA 1992, Close is an item on the system menu and it has Alt+F4 as
a shortcut. That's all. CUA does not have MDI. It does not have Close
on the object menu. It most certainly does not have Quit or Exit.

You can find at one OS/2 3.0 app that has Close on the File menu
and it takes F4 as a shortcut. You can find one MDI app and it has
Ctrl+F4 for the internal windows. Neither of these is CUA-compliant.

Neither CDE (Motif is the toolkit) nor Windows comes close enough to be
considered an example of the CUA - and none are needed because you can
find the docs here:

  http://publibz.boulder.ibm.com/cgi-bin/bookmgr_OS390/BOOKS/F29AL000/CCONTENTS?SHELF=CEESL002&DN=SC34-4399-00&DT=19921204095534


> Is it too late to correct this?

It is too late to correct the CUA. :-)  CUA keybindings were decided when
terminal applications were most common, even expected. They are now the
exception and should be treated as such; perhaps by having those keybindings
for whatever program provdes a virtual terminal. 


> It is reasonable to provide synonyms, where possible, for these 
> bindings, such as
> C-w & C-q in the Mac style, just as Microsoft provides C-c, C-v & C-x as 
> synonyms for the CUA
> standards C-insert, Sh-insert & Sh-delete
>
> -- 
> NY Harbor 2001-9-11 facts & photos  http://www.panix.com/~bingalls/
> 
> 

C-q on the Mac is a design error. The Mac should never have had a Quit
item.  http://mpt.phrasewise.com/discuss/msgReader$194

Microsoft provides or allows legacy support for the CUA keybindings.
 C-x, C-c, and C-v are the standard there.


Cheers,
Greg Merchan