::scr Editors. Again.

[.clive.murray.]

From: "celia romaniuk" <space@shadowgirl.net>

> On Thu, 1 Nov 2001, matt jones wrote:
>
> > Tangent: Could it be that what a GUI user is looking for from a text
> > editor may be different to what someone who primarily uses the command
> > line will be looking for? Is that because of the difference in interface
> > paragdims, or is it a cultural thing? Are those two factors even
seperate
> > from each other?
>
> I have a feeling that  people tend to  prefer using tools that require the
> least possible disruption of their general usage patterns, simply because
> they can then spend less time thinking about how they're going to do
> something, and more time just doing it. So if people are using
> command-line environments all the time, then apps which let them stick to
> that environment will be more appealing.

yer. speaking as a GUI (doze) user who spends a lot of time in text editors,
I would say that it is likely I want different things from an editor than a
command line user.

hm. now I've typed that, I can't think of any examples. I was going to say
highlighting text with the mouse, but I don't do that any more. I was going
to say drag and drop text, but I use ctrl-x ctrl-v instead. I was going to
say menu driven features, but I use keyboard shortcuts anyway.

I use UltraEdit exclusively now, which does all the things I like.
- decent search and replace with regexp support across multiple files/dirs
- syntax highlighting. I just like it. UE does different highlighting for
html, js, css, perl, c, java, etc...
- column mode which is great for indenting/formatting
- HTMLTidy built in. don't use it, but it's nice to see occasionally
- line numbering, built in ascii reference, html tag reference for
emergencies
- macro record/play functions (very nice)
- handles and converts between unix/dos/mac formats


now probably most other editors out there do all that with knobs on, but
it's the one I learnt to use nearly 4 years ago and I've loved it ever
since. tried to use homesite's editor recently, which other guys had been
talking up, but couldn't get on with it at all.

> The other thing that comes into play in this whole discussion is, as you
> mentioned, the issue of familiarity, as you point out. People like what
> they know.

persactly. what she said.

--c.
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