From owner-freebsd-hackers Fri Sep 12 04:44:30 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) id EAA27251 for hackers-outgoing; Fri, 12 Sep 1997 04:44:30 -0700 (PDT) Received: from zeus.gel.usherb.ca (zeus.gel.usherb.ca [132.210.70.7]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) with SMTP id EAA27244 for ; Fri, 12 Sep 1997 04:44:25 -0700 (PDT) Received: from castor.gel.usherb.ca by zeus.gel.usherb.ca (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA23586; Fri, 12 Sep 97 07:44:23 EDT Received: by castor.gel.usherb.ca (SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4) id HAA29774; Fri, 12 Sep 1997 07:44:23 -0400 Date: Fri, 12 Sep 1997 07:44:22 -0400 (EDT) From: "Alex.Boisvert" To: The Classiest Man Alive Cc: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: ATTN Emacs users; new Zile release In-Reply-To: <3.0.3.32.19970911213146.009c5680@cybercom.net> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from QUOTED-PRINTABLE to 8bit by hub.freebsd.org id EAA27246 Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk I would like to mention that I tried Zile yesterday. For the records, I like Emacs. It's not my favorite editor, but I can't live with vi.. ;-) When I ran Zile under a console, everything was colorfull and the keymaps where mostly ok. Under a XTerm, the mapping for "Backspace" doesn't work out of the box. Also, "Delete" key does what "backspace" should do, insteand of doing delete-backward-char. I think the most important aspect of an editor for newbies is to have the following functions available without thinking: Backspace = Delete character to the left Delete = Delete character to the right Arrow keys = Move cursor through text Loadé/Sae file = Direct key mapping (F2 and F3 respectively [usually]) (but could be any other key) Also, when you press an alphanumeric key, the corresponding character should appear on the screen (default in "insert mode"). This is not what "vi" gives. You have to *know* that pressing "i" or "a" is needed *before* entering text. Other features should be listed in a "menu" at the top of the screen, along with an arbitrary key binding for executing this feature. Seeing Zile, I will probably use it as a "lightweight editor" when Emacs is an overkill. Regards, Alex.