brian@ut-sally.UUCP (Brian H. Powell) (07/16/87)
In IM-IV, User Interface Chapter, page IV-6, in the paragraph labelled
"Collapsing a Selection" (under the section for arrow keys), Apple says:
"When a block of text is selected, pressing either Left Arrow or Right
Arrow deselects the range. If Left Arrow is pressed, the insertion point is
left at the beginning of the previous selection; if Right Arrow, at the end of
the previous selection."
My question is: what do you do with up or down arrow if there is a
current selection? This paragraph leads me to believe that you're supposed to
ignore them. The 128K ROM TextEdit just moves the cursor relative to the
beginning of the selection. (i.e., the range is deselected and the insertion
point moves as though there had only been an insertion point at what had been
the beginning of the selection.)
I can think of four ways to handle it:
1) Ignore up/down arrow keys. (i.e., the range is not deselected.)
2) Handle up the same as left and down the same as right.
3) The 128K ROM TextEdit way.
4) Up moves one line up from selStart, Down moves one line down
from selEnd.
Any thoughts on which would be best? Anybody want to defend any
particular action? I think 2 and 4 are pretty good; at least I think they are
justifiable. I don't think 3 is. Solution 1 seems kind of lame and might
surprise the user that nothing happens. (You don't always have to do
something to surprise a user.)
I'm kind of leaning toward solution 2. It's a positive action, unlike 1.
It changes the user's (for lack of a better word) context the least. It's not
clear why a user would use the up/down arrows with a selection, and this way,
the cursor doesn't move away from the selection. Solution 4 would move it one
line away from his selection.
One might also consider in one's defense, the length of the selection.
Solution 2 might be better in a lengthy selection, but if only one character
is selected, perhaps 4 is more what the user intends to have happen.
Please, let's talk it up out there.
Brian H. Powell
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ARPA: brian@sally.UTEXAS.EDU
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