Migrated from SourceForge ticket #8
Original Reporter: profstevekeen
Created: 2013-09-25 16:31:28.131000
Last Modified: 2026-09-22 00:30:53.243000
Status: open
Description
At the moment, the user interacts with the canvas wherever the mouse cursor is. This is great for speed on entry, but it also means that you have to move the mouse to move to a new position for entering a new block.
One feature Mathcad has is a canvas-specific cursor (shown as a red plus sign) which is where the user interacts with the canvas, even if the mouse is elsewhere.
This has the advantage that the insertion point can be moved using the keyboard alone--press the arrow keys to move a "space" either way, PgUp and PgDn for obvious movements, Home and End for horizontal movement to the canvas extremes, ctrl-Home to the beginning and ctrl-End to the end.
I think this could be useful in Minsky too. Then you'd use the mouse just for what the mouse is best at--connecting blocks--while the keyboard could be used for block entry and movement.
What do you think?
Migrated from SourceForge ticket #8
Original Reporter: profstevekeen
Created: 2013-09-25 16:31:28.131000
Last Modified: 2026-09-22 00:30:53.243000
Status: open
Description
At the moment, the user interacts with the canvas wherever the mouse cursor is. This is great for speed on entry, but it also means that you have to move the mouse to move to a new position for entering a new block.
One feature Mathcad has is a canvas-specific cursor (shown as a red plus sign) which is where the user interacts with the canvas, even if the mouse is elsewhere.
This has the advantage that the insertion point can be moved using the keyboard alone--press the arrow keys to move a "space" either way, PgUp and PgDn for obvious movements, Home and End for horizontal movement to the canvas extremes, ctrl-Home to the beginning and ctrl-End to the end.
I think this could be useful in Minsky too. Then you'd use the mouse just for what the mouse is best at--connecting blocks--while the keyboard could be used for block entry and movement.
What do you think?