I'd have to say that I think that Lennart is right here. I learned Emacs about 15 or so years ago, happily managing with the default key bindings on every platform that I used, but nowadays my default desktop is Windows XP, I switched to the CUA keybindings simply because it made for a much better experience switching between a various applications (and because personally I actually find them easier).
I see no reason why emacs should have to make simple things harder, if a large percentage of possible new users already know a popular set of keybindings, why shouldn't there be a simple option to setup and find them, and why can't this be documented? I don't think that many new users care about learning the "Emacs way" of doing things or the "CUA way", they just want to learn how to use Emacs with as short a learning curve as possible and if they can apply knowledge that they already have then that process is going to be quicker. Seriously, I don't know what a standard installation of emacs is anyway. I've never bothered to use one, the only reason Emacs is on any of the Unix machines here is because I installed it and then promptly pointed it at my .emacs file. The other Unix users here are all vi fans and just don't have the time or inclination to learn a new editor with a notoriously steep learning curve (especially since vi is everywhere and emacs isn't). I guess what I'm trying to say is that people learn a very customized version of Emacs anyway, I might not worry about teaching them to rebind keys per se, but I might well want to tell them that there are alternative binding that they might well find easier. Guy Stephen F. Heffner wrote: > Lennart Borgman spake thusly: > > >> IMHO CUA-bindings are that important for windows users that >> they deserve >> a place in the tutorial. I believe cua-mode makes it much >> easier for a >> windows user to learn and use Emacs. >> > > I guess that's true, if you assume: > > o The typical newbie is unwilling and/or unable to learn the standard > Emacs key bindings, and will therefore never use Emacs unless it's > made to operate like a Windows app > > o The person will never use Emacs on any other platform, e.g. Linux > > o The person doesn't mind being locked into the "Windows way" of doing > things > > Certainly for some people these assumptions will be true; the question is what > proportion of the potential Emacs user base on Windows falls into that group. > > However, as newbies gain experience and do more things with Emacs, they will > find that CUA only covers the basics, and they will have to learn the "Emacs > way" anyway, in order to progress in proficiency. > > I started using Emacs on VMS and moved to Windows much later, so my fingers > know the original bindings as my lungs know how to breathe. IMHO, they're not > bad WRT ergonomics. At least they're 2-finger chords, unlike some Windows > apps > that require the digital equivalent of the "Twister" game to accomplish (Emacs > jokes to the contrary notwithstanding). And, as I mentioned before, they let > a touch-typist concentrate on thinking instead of looking at the keyboard... > > My 2c (plain) as usual > > Steve Heffner > > Stephen F. Heffner, President | Phone: +1(480)626-5503 > ------------ | Fax: +1(480)626-7618 > Pennington Systems Incorporated | Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 8655 East Via de Ventura, Suite G200 | Web: http://WWW.Pennington.com > Scottsdale, Arizona 85258 USA | XTRAN: A software engineering > meta-tool > > > > > > -- Guy Gascoigne-Piggford www.wyrdrune.com
