On Mon, Apr 25, 2011 at 4:22 AM, Jim Lemon <j...@bitwrit.com.au> wrote: > On 04/24/2011 08:13 AM, derek wrote: >> >> Thank you very much. It was the Insert key. It was very annoying. Actually >> is >> this owerwrite function of any use? >> > Hi derek, > As Duncan mentioned, it is very useful when one wishes to type over existing > text. However, this is a fairly uncommon wish in the typical GUI user > environment, where the typist can highlight a group of characters and then > begin typing. The highlighted characters disappear and the replacement is > accomplished without changing the behavior of the keyboard. Many > applications now attempt to guess what you want to highlight by performing > the operation on words. To me this is not an advantage, for it often means > that I delete one or more characters beyond what I wish. As Rolf noted, the > adjacency of the Insert and Delete keys makes it far too easy to switch > unwittingly to Insert mode. I sometimes wonder whether keyboard designers > ever have to type, or whether they simply dictate their design inspirations > into a microphone as some non-typists of my acquaintance do. When I received > a new PC at work, some bright spark had placed an extra Backslash key next > to the left Shift key _and_ reduced the size of the Shift key. After a few > days of typing backslashes every time I wanted a capital letter, I popped > both keys off and extended the Shift key to mostly cover the useless > Backslash. I once programmed a special keyboard for a one-handed typist that > allowed one to reprogram the meaning of keys, thereby accommodating > individual preference rather than the lumbering Frankenstein of the average > user. Now that would be a worthwhile innovation.
A reprogrammable Lego keyboard would be good, thanks in advance. If you do it, would you please consider adding an extra safety feature for windows users: every time the victim either holds Shift for 8 seconds or presses Shift for 5 times in a row, there would be a nice voice saying: "You just pressed Shift for N times. Ordinarily that means that Windows will activate StickyKeys(TM) which will make your keyboard useless until you restart the computer. If you really wish to activate StickyKeys(TM), press Ctrl-Backspace-Esc for 12 times, then RightAlt-Tab-F8 for 3 times, and then smile in your webcam for at least 45 seconds without making any facial movements not directly required to perform the aforementioned task.". KK ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
