[OS X TeX] Re: find in texshop - wishlist

[Michael S. Hanson]

On May 16, 2005, at 4:15 AM, Lawrence Paulson wrote:

> I'd like to second requests 1 and 4.
>
> On the other hand, 3 would end the common practice of selecting a 
> search string to paste into the Find box.

	No, it would not:  it would simply change the default in the Find 
dialogue from "Entire File" to "Selection" whenever a block of text was 
currently highlighted.  One could always manually over-ride that 
selection before executing the search.  (Or click outside the 
highlighted area before searching.)

	Having used an editor that changes the scope of the find/replace 
automatically in the past, I agree with Themis that this behavior is 
actually desirable and a real time saver once you incorporate it into 
your workflow.  As a result, I now find it frustrating / infuriating 
when I think I am going to change text just in a selection and end up 
affecting the whole document.  (BBEdit in particular comes to mind....) 
  I suppose a refinement would be for the editor to change the scope to 
"selection" only when a LF or CR was included in the interior of the 
selected string -- that might more directly address Larry's concern.

	Personally, I prefer the behavior that Themis describes because I find 
it better to not change things you mean to change (and thus simply 
execute the find/replace a second time on the broader scope) than to 
change things you did not mean to change (and thus have to undo one or 
more changes, re-locate the selection in which the change is to be 
applied, re-execute the find/replace on this narrow scope, then "re-do" 
any subsequent changes since the erroneous find/replace).  I also find 
this behavior consistent with the Macintosh philosophy (largely lost on 
OS X, it seems) that destructive changes should not be defaults, all 
else equal.

	Reasonable people can disagree on the configuration of GUI defaults;  
I simply wanted to clarify Larry's interpretation, and provide some 
rationale for why some folks might prefer the behavior for which Themis 
has advocated.  As well as, perhaps, a second for his "motion."


> On 16 May 2005, at 01:00, TeX on Mac OS X Mailing List wrote:
>
>> Subject: find in texshop - wishlist
>> From: "Themis Matsoukas" <matsoukas at adelphia.net>
>> Date: Sat, 14 May 2005 20:25:12 -0400
>>
>> 1. When I search in Texshop for a string, I hit apple-F and start
>> typing the string. The Find panel, however, remembers the last string
>> and *appends* the typing to the old string. It would be better if the
>> find panel opened with the old string *selected* so that any new 
>> typing
>> writes over the old.
>>
>> 3. It would be nice if Find would automatically switch to "Scope
>> Selection", if some text is already selected.
>>
>> 4. Could we change "Less Options" to "Fewer Options"?

	I concur!

                                         -- Mike

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