Re: Why are <next> and <prior> not called <page down> and <page up>?

[Lennart Borgman <lennart.borgman.073@student.lu.se>]

Drew Adams wrote:
>     >     > <prior> and <next> are standard names, which means that users
>     >     > can find things out about them (e.g. Google).
>     >
>     >     Are you seriously saying that it is more simple to find
>     >     something about
>     >     the usage of these keys if you use "next" than "page down"?
>     >
>     > Well, I don't know whether it is easier to search for one or
>     > the other. The point is that one is a standard name, so _if_
>     > you can find doc on it then you have found doc about many things
>     > (e.g. apps) involving that key.
>
>     Can you please explain what standard you refer to?
>
> Didn't Stefan mention X11?
>   
Thanks, but then we are talking about different levels. You refer to a 
technical level. I am more interested in what the user sees, the 
physical keyboard. I think it is easier to understand and remember for 
users if we refer to the physical keyboard. This is also very standard 
today.

>     Are they not mostly called "left arrow" etc? Talking about them
>     together as just "up, down, left, right" makes it rather easy to
>     understand I guess. At least that was the case for me.
>
> And yet you had trouble getting from Page Down to Next?
>   
Yes, absolutely.

> To be clear, we need to give them unique names. And since they already have
> unique names, from the standard, why not use those? And, then, why use those
> standard names in some cases but not in others?
>   
Of course we should use good standard technical names internally. I 
guess X11 is good for this since Stefan mentioned it. But for 
communication with the users refering to the physical keyboard is in my 
opinion better.

Having different names is a bit complex of course, but I do not believe 
it can be more simple than that (and you have given good reasons for that).

> It's the signal sent by the physical key that's important, no? How can you
> even tell if your keyboard has an `prior' key - do you just look for a Page
> Up label? That might not be sufficient, depending on what that key is mapped
> to.
>   
No problem on a standard pc I guess.