request: emacs keys

Feature requests, and in-depth discussions of features and the way Mellel works

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dmw
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Joined: Fri Nov 03, 2006 10:39 pm

request: emacs keys

Post by dmw »

I'm pretty sure this request will not be something clamored for by most of you, but it's a frustration for me, and I think it's probably trivial to fix. In any Cocoa text box, and most Cocoa based text-editors and word processors, you can navigate through the text without using the arrow keys. Instead, you can use ctrl-n for up, ctrl-p for down, ctrl-b for left, and ctrl-f for right. These keystrokes are standard in the programmer's editor emacs, which I assume the original NextStep authors must have been fond of. There is also ctrl-h for backspace, and ctrl-d for forward delete. The huge benefit to these keys over the arrow keys is that you don't need to move your fingers off of the home row to move the cursor.

The good news is that almost all of these keys work, except left and right (ctrl-b and ctrl-f). This becomes extremely frustrating for me as I instinctively press these and wait for something to happen. So that is my request: please map these keys to left and right cursor movement.

Thanks for listening.
filipeamoreira
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Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2014 6:39 pm

Re: request: emacs keys

Post by filipeamoreira »

I'm sorry for resurrecting a old post. However I have the same issue. I would love if Mellel supported Emacs key bindings in a similar way as OSX does.

Thank you for a great product!
rpcameron
Knows everything, can prove it
Posts: 980
Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2005 12:48 am
Location: IE, CA, USA

Re: request: emacs keys

Post by rpcameron »

It is very unlikely this will happen. Most applications use standard OS text controls for displaying/entering text, which natively support EMACS bindings. However, Mellel's text engine is not from Apple, and therefore it does not support these bindings. However, while you lose EMACS bindings, you gain better OpenType and RTL support.
— Robert Cameron
caw
Got the styles thing figured out
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2014 12:41 am

Re: request: emacs keys

Post by caw »

Just bumping this thread

I understand why Mellel doesn't support some of the usual OSX cursor movement keys. We have C-a and C-e in Mellel (wonder why?) - it would be just great to round that out with

C-b, C-f (back, forward a char)
C-n, C-p (up, down a SCREEN line - I know, I know)
C-k (delete to end of line)
C-y (paste what's in "clipboard")

That would make a big difference - not to all, but to a fair few.

cheers
caw
Got the styles thing figured out
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2014 12:41 am

Re: request: emacs keys

Post by caw »

BUMP!

Just living in hope! :P

I'm writing my dissertation in Mellel, and it is just superb. This forum has been very helpful.

I miss some of the emacs cursor movement keys we see in other text apps (I know, Mellel uses its own text engine).
Moving off the home row to the arrow keys for simple forward/backward cursor movement is a pain. We have Ctr-a/e for start/end of a (logical) line and Ctrl-n/p for next/prev (physical) line, but Ctrl-b/f (back/forward a char) isn't there, nor is Ctrl-K (delete to end of line).

Just three more and I'll be very happy!

Cheers
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