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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: The Copy/Paste Problem
From:       Sergej Malinovski <sergej () nospam ! dk>
Date:       2001-03-11 13:41:15
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Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> Your argument is a little confused: first you say that "there shouldn't
> be automatic copying of selection", then you say "why do I have to copy
> text in some special way". If you don't explicitly give a COPY command
> (choose a menu, type ctrl-C, click a copy icon), then the only other way
> to implement copy/paste is with automatic copying.

An implicit, automatic copy command is special to me. An explicit command 
isn't. However, this hasn't much to do with my argument. My point was 
following.

If I cut/copy something, *no*matter*how*, I want to be able paste that, 
*no*matter*how*. Is this too much to ask for? I don't think so. Now that's my 
main point, and that's what you are allowed to argue ;-)

What this "no matter how" means, from my point of view, is that a user can 
choose the most convenient way to cut/copy and the most convenient way to 
paste, and that these two chooses *should not* effect (cannot find a better 
word) each other in any way.

> The point is, if you are a writer, you will frequently want to be
> editing text, which means adding, replacing and changing lots of
> different things all at once. You DON'T want to be scrolling backwards
> and forwards copying and re-copying and re-copying again the same text
> over and over again.

The current version of Klipper allows "multiple buffers", so again we have 
overlapping, unneeded functionality.

> But this shouldn't be a hidden feature. If you have it, you should also
> make a menu command for it, for those who don't have a middle mouse
> button, and also so that ordinary users can discover it and become
> expert users.

Heh, two paste menu commands. See what this leads to? I mean, it won't be 
like the "Paste Special" command from MS Word, because in reality, there is 
nothing special about this middle-button paste -- the result is the same as 
if you where using keyboard alone -- so it would be like "Yank" from Emacs. 
That is what is confusing -- the so called special paste that isn't special! 

-- 
Sergej Malinovski [http://dreamer.nitro.dk]

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