Re: lynx-dev Link numbering and keypad mode

[David Combs]

On Tue, Feb 16, 1999 at 06:26:16PM -0500, Jacob Poon wrote:
> On Tue, 16 Feb 1999, Laura Eaves wrote:
> <SNIP!>
> I think it will be bettter to add an option to number form fields and
> links independently.  For example, when using goto command, '123l' chooses
> link 123, and '123f' goes to form field 123.
> 

Please, what BENEFIT from distinguishing these two types of
things?

On my screen, at least, they look the same: [45], say.

Why clutter the user's mind by REQUIRING him to learn some 
implementation detail?

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Look, we computer types have spent the last ten years, no,
15 at least, with trying to make our programming more 
via "abstractions", trying to GENERALIZE things, where
there is ONE named function or (more recently) "method"
that "does the right thing" depending on its context.

Each "object" (a link-looking thing is an "object")
KNOWS what it itself is, and knows what to do when
certain words ("messages") are fired at it.
Makes life much simpler for most of us (more difficult,
maybe, for assembly-language bit-twiddlers that 
lots of us once were back in the dark ages -- but
we wised up since then).

(Sure, for an IMPLEMENTOR of THAT product, maybe he'd
like to know exactly what he's doing.  Uh, run with
the debugger on.  :-)   Single stepping for a week
just to get to one link.)

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About "customers", "civilians", "lusers" -- all the products
they use from M$ -- aren't they now "object oriented"
even from the USER'S point of view?  (Recall it all 
starting out with "context-sensitive help" ten or so
years ago.)

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I guess it is similar to the difference between having
a manual shift on a car, vs automatic transmission.
Since what, the early 50's, the average auto "luser"
(am using old terminology here :-) ) proved, by spending
the significantly-extra money, to get the automatic.
Just didn't CARE what gear he was in at the time; let
the car decide (even back then when it didn't do the
best job at it!).  Since the early/mid 60/s, even
RACE cars have had automatic transmission -- I recall
something called the "chapparal" that had one of the
first, and I know when I saw the thing -- 1966 at the
fort ord, I think, racetrack.

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A long winded plea to just keep it as it is.

David