Re: keyboard input of arbitrary characters

[Paul Rohr]

At 08:59 AM 4/27/01 +0200, Mike Nordell wrote:
>Paul Rohr wrote:
>> The three questions become:
>>
>> 1.  Is something like this even a good idea?
>
>Probably. But I'd think more than twice before implementing it as a "magic"
>keyboard shortcut. What about a small dialog with an edit box accepting only
>hex input and previewing the UC char?

OK, I'll keep thinking, but off the cuff, that sounds like the worst of both 
worlds.  (At least to me, it does.)

For now, I'm looking for a pure shortcut with *zero* UI, which my fingers 
can memorize just like they memorized the arrow-key chords for word-level 
and paragraph-level navigation and selections.  

We'll also eventually want to upgrade the Insert Symbol dialog to allow 
insertion of arbitrary Unicode characters.  At that time, something like 
what you propose probably makes sense. 

The two UIs exist for different purposes.  One is essentially invisible, and 
optimized for speed.  The other is ultra-visible, and optimized for clear 
feedback and easy learning.  

Paul,
GUI fanatic