At 03:54 AM 4/24/02 +0100, Andrew Dunbar wrote:
>I just tested Arabic selection in MSIE here:
>http://www.aljazeera.net/ and selecting a lam+alef
>ligature by keyboard or by mouse works as I've said.
>
> [...]
>
>-- Okay I just tested MSWord too and it does do both
>backspacing and selection by codepoint.  For selection
>it actually does it for both keyboard (incremental)
>selection and mouse selection.  I find it very
>difficult to use with the mouse and reasonably
>difficult to use with the keyboard.  I prefer the way
>MSIE works.  So even MS are not consistent ):

Actually, if you think about it, this shouldn't be surprising at all.

MSIE is a browser which renders existing content.  Thus it would make sense 
if that UI got optimized for easily selecting lots of text, so that you can 
paste it somewhere else. 

By comparison, MSWord is an editor.  Is it any surprise that here the UI 
gets optimized for finer-grained selections so that authors can format or 
delete or rearrange smaller bits of content as it's being created. 

bottom line
-----------
When you're looking for UI precedents, choose the closest possible fit.

Paul
motto -- use cases matter

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