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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: Manual Autocompletion
From:       dep <dep () drippingwithirony ! com>
Date:       2002-01-18 12:01:02
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On Thursday 17 January 2002 22:12, Carsten Pfeiffer wrote:
| On Freitag, 18. Januar 2002 00:19, dep wrote:
| > i don't think that there's justification for autocompletion in
| > *any* dialog.
|
| eh?

as in the application selector in "open with".

| > then you don't get around that much. autocompletion in konqueror
| > has yet to work the first time for me in taking me to where i
| > want to go;
|
| So where does it take you instead?

well, for instance, if i have "automatic" enabled, "ftp" gives me 
"ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.3". now, admittedly, 
someone using 7.3 will find this particular directory very useful<g>, 
but it does not really embrace the universe of ftp servers.

in konqueror's defense, it is not as bad in this regard as opera 5.0 
is, and turning it off is easier. my point is that inserting a 
keystroke to invoke it would make it useful for those occasions where 
someone *does* want to return to a place they remember having been 
to, perhaps via some kind of search they cannot now recreate, but who 
generally does not find satisfaction with autocompletion. likewise, 
it has its uses in kmail, but only sometimes. and that inasmuch as 
the standard autocompletion key in linux (and i believe most unices, 
or most shells -- no idea where this function enters things) is 
<tab>, that is the likeliest candidate for that keystroke.

while the subject is being raised, though, i can see where having 
this user-editable (with overrides possibly configurable system-wide 
for enterprise deployment?) might be a good thing, in much the way 
that being able to adopt, say, emacs-style keybindings (which i 
understand is on the way), would be useful. indeed, in that themes 
seem to be all the rage, a fully themeable key binding system might 
be a good thing. (i say "might" because as with most things, there 
are two sides here -- it would enable a user to do what he wants, but 
it would also tie the user to his particular machine, as is the case 
to a greater or lesser extent with all user options.)

but back to the initial point, i think that longtime linux/unix users 
find themselves automatically hitting tab when they want 
autocompletion, and hitting tab twice to see the choices when there 
are choices, and that this is good and expected behavior and ought to 
at least be an option -- not everyone is coming from windows, and 
even those that are may be interested in a better way of doing things.
-- 
dep

There is sobbing of the strong,
And a pall upon the land;  
But the People in their weeping
Bare the iron hand;
Beware the  
People weeping
When they bare the iron hand.
 
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