On Thu, 21 Feb 2002, David Starner wrote:
> Software being too smart is usually a pain, unless they've got the
> read-my-mind code working right. Especially here - how do you
> distinguish between the hyphen, the em-dash, the minus and the soft
> hyphen? Any sort of software-smarts is going to have to be heavily
> backed up by user-smarts.
No question there, but I think you have missed my point. The most crucial
step is simply to get people to realize that there is more than one symbol
involved and that the choice matters. So long as hitting the - key always
gets them hyphen, that's not going to happen. Having them grumble that
the stupid software keeps picking the wrong one would be an *IMPROVEMENT*.
> There is a step between shift-alt-meta and printed on the keycaps. An
> English (non-programmers) keyboard could be designed and distributed
> in software. It's not impossible that Microsoft could support such a
> thing and keyboard manufacturers start making the things, meaning the
> next generation actually reliably gets it right.
You're still dodging the crucial problem, which is getting people to
change their touch-typing habits to actually *use* the new symbols.
Henry Spencer
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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