Re: idea for the Insert/Overwrite problem

Any proposed change (even something as "benign" as a dialog box
preference or having to press the key twice) breaks with how the INS
key works in all other apps and all other OSes.

This is not a change I'd support. With r coyne's proposal, we'd
penalize people who expect the INS key to work as it was designed to.
We'd penalize people who expected it to work like it does everywhere
else. That isn't what I learned in my elementary school typing
classes. Being different here doesn't help us. Uniformity of
expectations (aka the "principle of lease surprise") demands that we
keep our current behavior.

The "A" key inserts an "A". The "B" key inserts a "B". The "INS" key
switches between insert and overwrite mode. It isn't that hard to
learn or keep track of.

Best,
Dom

On 9/5/06, r coyne <duckingsnofair@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> How about requiring the user to press the Insert key
> *twice in a row* to switch between entry modes? That
> would make it pretty hard to do accidentally, but
> still quick and easy for anyone who means it. After
> one press, any other key (or serious mouse action)
> should cancel the special state of awaiting the second
> hit, so that a subsequent accident is only the first
> time. For those who mean to do it, know the Windows
> standard way, and don't know of this modification, the
> status line could display an appropriate
> message/instruction after the first Insert.
>
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