If it's going to be a menu item in Mac but not in Windows or Linux
versions then that creates even more user interface diversity,
fragmenting our small community even more.

My preference would be for a menu item in all Gtk versions, failing
that in none.


On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 3:08 PM, bill lam <[email protected]> wrote:
> I'm not a mac afficionados and not even a mac user to comprehend why this
> is a big deal or that apple interface guideline should be regarded as a
> doctrine. (_no_ depreciation intended here.) Since you already worked out a
> simple way to make it conform to that guideline, an option would be
> to incorporate into mainline with additional conditional code making it
> only relevant in mac, such as
>  if. UNAME-:'Darwin' do.
>    create_menu_sep con
>    con ccmenu 'runadvancelab'
>  end.
>
> otherwise mac afficionados would need to patch every time after updating
> gtkide from pacman.
>
> btw, afficionados - sounds like esperanto?
>
> @Chris, what will be your opinion?
>
> Втр, 22 Фев 2011, Ian Clark писал(а):
>> > I realize that your email was a rant, meant to express frustration and not 
>> > necessarily logic or facts,
>>
>> Haha.
>>
>> ...But there were a *few* facts lurking in my rant, plus a smidgeon of logic.
>> So go on, fault me on one or the other.
>>
>> > the CTRL key predated both Windows and Mac OSes by quite some time.
>>
>> Oh yes... it predates computers.
>>
>> I remember it on the old tty. It had one use and one use only: to
>> enter a "control" char: NUL, SOH, STX, ETX,...
>> which it did by grounding a line or two, if memory serves.
>>
>> The original Mac "toaster" did not have a Control key. See:
>>    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Apple_Macintosh_Plus_Keyboard.jpg
>> (...that's the Option key you see next to the Command key.)
>> That was deliberate: to enforce the Mac gui paradigm.
>>
>> A lost cause, if ever there was one.
>> (@Apple: do you want to sell your machines, or don't you?)
>>
>> Excellent histories of the Command and Control keys on modern
>> computers can be found at:
>>    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_Key
>>    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_key
>>
>> But the keyboard on my Macintosh II (which I bought to replace my Mac
>> 512k, which quite literally toasted itself -- the power-unit was
>> absurdly underpowered) certainly did have a Control key. By then the
>> Mac had a good repertoire of apps, and M$ was in open conflict with
>> Apple over "look 'n' feel".
>>
>> Since then the usage of Command and Control keys, along with all
>> modifiers, has become capricious.
>> (...Oh I know developers won't say that: they'll say their usage
>> follows Iron Rules of Pure Logic -- to hell with whatever anyone else
>> does.)
>>
>> But this caprice has not been to the benefit of novice users.
>>    ...If there still are any.
>>       ...Who matter.
>>
>> > As Chris B. already replied, any of us, individually or collectively, can 
>> > customize JHS as we like...
>>
>> (I'll assume you meant JGTK...)
>>
>> Oh yes. J602 and J701 are beatifully soft apps. The code which governs
>> the JGTK menus is in '~addons/ide/gtk/gtk.ijs' -which you can readily
>> find by Spotlighting the text of a menu item, such as: Run Project
>>
>> That done, a four-year old could hack it, to come up with what I offer
>> as my suggestion:
>>    http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/Interfaces/GTK/AdvanceLabMac
>>
>> ...but all this is a long way from the pure land of novice support.
>>
>> That said, why *should* JGTK make any concession to the novice? As
>> Chris implies, its primary audience is developers wishing to employ
>> GTK in their product. Not novices. Ergo the availability of labs on
>> JGTK is just a bonus.
>>
>> I said "I don't know if anyone's listening". But I could have said it
>> kinder. Or it could have been thrown right back at me... Why *should*
>> anyone be listening? JGTK is an interface on the Mac for GTK
>> afficionados. That's its central audience. It need have no special
>> appeal to Mr Average Mac User coming new to J.
>>
>> (As indeed it doesn't.)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 7:43 AM, Alan K. Stebbens <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >> < Rant> ...
>> >> Ctrl in Windows is (usually) the counterpart of Cmnd (⌘) on the Mac.
>> >> But nowadays Mac keyboards offer a Ctrl key also, as a concession to
>> >> ex-Windows customers (...growing) -- particularly users of M$Word,
>> >
>> > Ian,
>> >
>> > I realize that your email was a rant, meant to express frustration and not 
>> > necessarily logic or facts, but I also feel the need to set the record 
>> > straight: in that the CTRL key predated both Windows and Mac OSes by quite 
>> > some time.
>> >
>> > For example, running WordPerfect on a CP/M system required a fairly strong 
>> > left "pinky" because most of the editing was done with the CTRL key being 
>> > pressed semi-contantly.
>> >
>> > Furthermore, even while MS-DOS was the primary OS for large, clunky 
>> > desktops, the CTRL key was very much in use on BSD 4.2 Unix at the very 
>> > least for line editing (e.g., CTRL-C, CTRL-U, CTRL-\, CTRL-Z), and was 
>> > widely available at most colleges and universities.
>> >
>> > IMHO, the Mac OS X support of the CTRL key is (was) not a concession to 
>> > Windows, but rather a simple recognition the Terminal app users on Mac OS 
>> > X (which is really a Unix system), as well as the users of the larger 
>> > non-Mac OS world, which increasingly included other Unix variants as well 
>> > as Windows systems absolutely require the CTRL key, at the very least for 
>> > command line editing.
>> >
>> >> which has been re-ported to the Mac with little or no understanding of
>> >> novice needs. There's no good reason for a novice ever to buy M$Word:
>> >> the kludge is aimed at an existing audience.
>> >
>> > I'm no MS fanboy, but you should know that 2011 MSWord is actually a 
>> > decent Mac app port.  The 2004 MSWord was .. okay ..; the 2008 MSWord was 
>> > terrible.
>> >
>> >> But on the Mac: Ctrl+J to advance a Lab is Ctrl+J in JGTK not ⌘J ...it
>> >> appears to be the sole exception to the "rule" Ctrl+ --> ⌘ .
>> >
>> > As Chris B. already replied, any of us, individually or collectively, can 
>> > customize JHS as we like.  However, I do believe that there is a benefit 
>> > to having the "out of box" experience be as intuitive as possible.
>> >
>> > As Joey said in a later email, CTRL-J to advance a Lab seems perfectly 
>> > fine to me, and somewhat mnemonic.
>> >
>> >> I'd have pointed this out before but I don't know if anyone's
>> >> listening. (How many Mac users are there on this list? Four?)
>> >> </ Rant >
>> >
>> > Count++ me as a Mac user too.  Since serial number 300 of the original Mac 
>> > line.  But, I was also chained to a Windows XP laptop for 6 years, as part 
>> > of long visit with Dante in the Inferno.
>> >
>> > --
>> > Alan
>> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
>
> --
> regards,
> ====================================================
> GPG key 1024D/4434BAB3 2008-08-24
> gpg --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv-keys 4434BAB3
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm

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