>This really didn't work for me. I found needing to parse the command ("Move backward a word") broke the memory that I have built up over 15 years of using Emacs. Instead of naturally moving backwards with a flick of the fingers, I had to concentrate on where each finger was and on the key I was pressing. ...
>Now, take @gruseom's idea of a visual "goal" that you are chasing, and I think this could be intensely valuable.
I made exactly your suggestion to the author a while back, since this site was posted on HN about a month ago. A few days after that, I went to a TrueCar Ruby meetup where the author presented his shortcutfoo app, and when he asked for input, I made exactly your suggestion:
Since, I reasoned, you never go from "verbal description of alteration" to "keyboard input" in actual practice, I said that it would make more sense to give some visual representation of what the desired change looks like, since that is a lot closer to how people use these shortcuts (although not an exact match, of course). Someone else then followed up by suggesting that it display "before and after" pictures (what the text/cursor look like before and after the modification), which would be pretty easy to implement.
I don't know why he didn't take that suggestion, but it's unfortunate that he hasn't.
>Now, take @gruseom's idea of a visual "goal" that you are chasing, and I think this could be intensely valuable.
I made exactly your suggestion to the author a while back, since this site was posted on HN about a month ago. A few days after that, I went to a TrueCar Ruby meetup where the author presented his shortcutfoo app, and when he asked for input, I made exactly your suggestion:
Since, I reasoned, you never go from "verbal description of alteration" to "keyboard input" in actual practice, I said that it would make more sense to give some visual representation of what the desired change looks like, since that is a lot closer to how people use these shortcuts (although not an exact match, of course). Someone else then followed up by suggesting that it display "before and after" pictures (what the text/cursor look like before and after the modification), which would be pretty easy to implement.
I don't know why he didn't take that suggestion, but it's unfortunate that he hasn't.
Earlier post: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4007096