Build a better TEXT EDITOR!!! [LWN.net]

Build a better TEXT EDITOR!!!

Posted Feb 4, 2004 23:24 UTC (Wed) by tracyreed (guest, #16253)
Parent article: Building A Better Browser (Forbes)

For years I have longed for real text editing capabilities inside of a browser. Here I am typing yet another screed in the textarea widget of a web browser which is even simpler than DOS EDIT when it comes to editing functionality. All I ask is that I be able to somehow configure my browser to be able to use vi for editing within the textarea. So many apps are web based these days and we do so much text entry via browsers that I am really shocked that it is not a standard option in any browser these days. I thought the mozilla guys were "hackers" but I just can't see real hackers putting up with anything other than vi/emacs.

:wq

damn

to post comments

Build a better TEXT EDITOR!!!

Posted Feb 4, 2004 23:58 UTC (Wed) by alonzo (guest, #2770) [Link] (1 responses)

vi?!!! Probably nobody writing browser code uses vi. But that would sure make my life easier! Everytime I have to use a wysiwyg editor I screw everything up. Being able to choose vi as my browser editor would be great!

Build a better TEXT EDITOR!!!

Posted Feb 5, 2004 12:54 UTC (Thu) by KaiRo (subscriber, #1987) [Link]

I would abandon every browser using something that works like vi. I can't even do simple editing using vi - that may be why I hate it. Loving joe though, I don't need any other text-mode editor.
Anyways, I love having GUI text editor for the real complex tasks. Integrating something like Kate into the Mozilla text widget would make it even bigger in codesize than it is (and yes, it's too big already, come and ask about it on irc.mozilla.org) - and we're currently caring about reducing codesize, not bloating the product even more.

If you want to have an even better widget there, feel free to work on it though, it's open source, remember? And we'll be happy about everyone actively doing additional work anywhere in our great Mozilla projects.

Build a better TEXT EDITOR!!!

Posted Feb 5, 2004 0:29 UTC (Thu) by jonabbey (guest, #2736) [Link] (3 responses)

What do you mean? Mozilla Firebird (and Mozilla before it) does support (modified) emacs keybindings in text area widgets. The control keys for cursor movement work the same in emacs. Ctrl-k deletes a line in the same way it does in emacs, though you can't do Ctrl-y to paste. The standard ctrl-x, ctrl-c, ctrl-v keys are kept for cut and paste, of course, and the alt key jumps to the menus, but.. it's close enough for a first approximation.

Build a better TEXT EDITOR!!!

Posted Feb 5, 2004 1:57 UTC (Thu) by iabervon (subscriber, #722) [Link]

These keybindings are about the worst possible ones for emacs users. I,
at least, move text around primarily with ctrl-k/ctrl-y, which results in
me deleting everything I've written. When I'm done, I press ctrl-x
ctrl-c, which then cuts whatever's selected and then might copy nothing
over it. They really ought to make pressing esc twice erase all your
text, too, to keep vi users happy.

Key bindings

Posted Feb 5, 2004 4:01 UTC (Thu) by Ross (guest, #4065) [Link] (1 responses)

I haven't tried Firebird but I have a few complaints about Mozilla.

One thing I wish for is the ability to use ALT as the menu shortcut
modifier instead of CTRL. Not only is ALT more familar to me but I
sometimes use the control keys in text widgets by habit. I also hate
the text selection semantics in the URL bar. My final user interface
complaint is the slowness of the menu widgets. I sometimes click twice
because the menus are so slow to open (especially long menus like
Bookmarks).

Key bindings

Posted Feb 5, 2004 14:23 UTC (Thu) by foo (guest, #1117) [Link]

Shut down mozilla, add this line:

user_pref("ui.key.accelKey", 18);

to your ~/.mozilla/*/*/prefs.js file,
and you're all set.

Build a better TEXT EDITOR!!!

Posted Feb 5, 2004 1:49 UTC (Thu) by larryr (guest, #4030) [Link] (2 responses)

All I ask is that I be able to somehow configure my browser to be able to use vi for editing within the textarea.

Something which I guess can sort of help is mozex.

Larry

Build a better TEXT EDITOR!!!

Posted Feb 5, 2004 10:27 UTC (Thu) by fghorow (subscriber, #5229) [Link] (1 responses)

Firebird with mozex is indeed pretty sweet. I spend a lot of time using a TWiki at work, and the ability to edit large text areas in xemacs rather than a text box is sanity-saving.

Mozex also lets you customise the handling of things like mailto: URIs, etc.

Recommended.

Build a better TEXT EDITOR!!!

Posted Feb 5, 2004 18:08 UTC (Thu) by WilliamBland (guest, #15408) [Link]

Wow! That is very cool - I just set it up to use Evolution for email
and Emacs for textareas. Works perfectly!