[comp.sys.amiga] Guidelines to Amiga Programming

spencer@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Randy Spencer) (11/21/87)

This is a question that I have been pondering for some time, so I
want to conduct a poll and see what you guys think.

	Do we follow Intuition guidelines to the letter or
	blow them off because we see a better standard?

To elaborate:

	Ever notice that the Amiga default pointer is lite
	from the top and the right.  Ever notice that Mac
	windows have shadows to the bottom and to the right?

	(an obvious attempt to avoid the Look and Feel trials)

	Only problem is that I have only got one example of
	light coming from that direction other than the pointer,
	and that is the late coming 1.2 trashcan.

	Everybody else that I know puts the shadow or the
	gleam as if the light was coming from the upper left.
	To specify a few I have CLImate infront of me, I am
	using a disk icon I got that has a shadow, and I am 
	running Drop Shadow that was written by the guy who
	is responsible for Intuition (pt.2), amiga!jimm.

	So should I go with the crowd or the obscure reference
	in the Intuition manual?  Shadows look really funky
	going that direction, things have to stack up in
	a way that looks backwards to me, to have shadows visable.

OK, the other question is:

	What are your favorite keyboard equivilants?

	Command		Amiga		Mac
	-------		-----		---
	Cut		Amiga-X		Command-X
	Copy		Amiga-C		Command-C
	Paste		Amiga-P		Command-V (like 'down')
	Italic		Amiga-I		Command-I
	Bold		Amiga-B		Command-B
	Underline	Amiga-U		Command-U
	Plain		Amiga-P (again)	Command-P
	Undo		Amiga-Q		Command-Z
	Save		Amiga-S		Command-S
	Quit		N/A		Command-Q

Ok, looking at them I see that Plain text is the same command as
Paste.  I see that Apple has a definition that makes sense, it is a
mnemonic that 'V' means 'Arrow pointing down'.  It is also right there
with the 'X' (Cut), 'C' (Copy), and 'V' (Paste), all right next to
each other.  Both used 'U' for Underline, so they can't use it for
'Undo'.  But then Apple went and defined 'Q' as quit, whereas Amiga
used it for 'Undo', which doesn't help me much, I then have to make up
my own for quit (since they didn't define that).

The way I look at it it makes sense to follow the more thought out,
and more wide spread Mac definitions.  When we get impossible things
like a double definition of a key, what do we do, we have to improvise.
On the Mac there isn't any of that, you always know that if you want
to cut something that you press Command-X and it is cut!  Standard,
always there!  If I can't do it the way the Amiga is defined, I have 
to follow something, Am-i-wrong?
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Randy Spencer
oops... accidently deleted my .signature while mucking with it...
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

cute@sphinx.UUCP (11/21/87)

In article <6016@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> spencer@eris () writes:
>OK, the other question is:
>
>	What are your favorite keyboard equivilants?
(lists of various machines' equivalents deleted)

>Ok, looking at them I see that Plain text is the same command as
>Paste.  I see that Apple has a definition that makes sense, it is a
>mnemonic that 'V' means 'Arrow pointing down'.  It is also right there
>with the 'X' (Cut), 'C' (Copy), and 'V' (Paste), all right next to
>each other.  Both used 'U' for Underline, so they can't use it for
>'Undo'.
(other stuff deleted, to satisfy the Dark Lord inews)

The only key equivalents that Apple requires (and then only for programs that
have an Edit menu) are: Z=Undo, X=Cut, C=Copy, V=Paste.  B=Clear is also
suggested, but only if the program doesn't need to use B=Boldface in a font
style menu.  The only reason for choosing those particular keys is that they
are all next to each other, right above the Command key(left-Amiga).

Just
thought
you'd
like
to
know.




-- 
...ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!cute
(insert pithy quote here)