Map some other function to the insert key

[Lucas Meneghel Rodrigues]

Initial Disclaimer: I don't have extensive experience in the computer
usability field, so take my comments as a grain of salt. I'm just
posting this because I tought it would be useful for the current
discussion.

About the caps lock key, I don't think that's too much of an issue.
Users usually can figure out quickly when they hit the caps lock
button (and correct the mistake), specially because in the vast
majority of keyboards there's a Caps Lock led with goes on when you
hit the key. The all caps behaviour is not extremely confusing either
(you just press backspace a few times to correct the mistake, and
you're done).

Insert is a bit more complicated, because there's almost no indication
that you're in overwrite mode, and this overwrite mode is damn
confusing, with no clear indication on how to stop this behaviour.

So, it would be useful making insert an additional control, but caps
lock would be:

1 - Leaved alone (IMHO the best);
2 - Completely disabled (Not sure if it's a good solution)
3 - Mapped to an additional Shift (I agree, this is sort of dumb). 

2005/4/18, Yuan Qi <gmanenews.3.maxchee at spamgourmet.com>:
> This post is try to suggest some sane defaults. It is possible to use
> xmodmap or some other tools to disable keys, but most novice users would
> have no idea about that. Why not just disable/remap the key by default?
> 
> As for capslock, it might be a good idea to map it as a second/third
> shift key.
> 
> Daniel Robitaille <robitaille at gmail.com> wrote:
> >On Mon, 2005-18-04 at 00:28 -0400, Yuan Qi wrote:
> >
> >>> I hope everyone is aware of this:
> >>> http://mpt.net.nz/archive/2005/04/11/ubuntu
> >>>
> >>> One of the usability problems the author have mentioned in his article
> >>> is the fact that the insert key is mapped to the overwrite mode. Since
> >>> most computer users (even intermediate users) are not aware of this
> >>> mode, they will be confused and frustrated by the software's "buggy"
> >>> behaviour. Therefore, I suggest that we either map a different function
> >>> to this key or just disable it. Personally, I think the Paste function
> >>> is the most sensible function to be mapped to the insert key.
> >
> >
> >for reference, the bugzilla entry (now closed) on this subject was:
> >https://bugzilla.ubuntu.com/show_bug.cgi?id=9122
> >
> >Personally I very rarely touch the insert key (on purpose or by
> >accident), so I don't really care one way or the other.
> >
> >As for the Caps_lock, another key referenced in that Matthew Thomas
> >article, now that's another beast  :)  I usually try to disable it using
> >xmodmap on computers I work on because I keep hitting it by accident.
> >
> >
> >
> 
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> 


-- 
==============================
Lucas Meneghel Rodrigues
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