Re: Idea for compilation mode

[David.Kastrup@t-online.de (David Kastrup)]

Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:

> I'm not interested in making any major changes in Emacs key bindings
> for the sake of non-US keyboards.  It would be too much trouble.

Naturally.  It is just a thing to keep in mind for creating keymaps
that some keys are often worse to reach than others, when switching to
a different language.  ` is an example for a key that is horrible to
type on almost any keyboard except US ones, and so it should be
avoided for important key bindings like next-error.

> However, it might perhaps make sense to support optional alternate
> binding themes for some of these layouts.  Those could be maintained
> by users of those keyboard layouts, perhaps using
> key-translation-map to make them independent of the rest of Emacs.
> That way, they won't be a maintenance burden.

That would be overkill, I guess.  Most keybindings for Emacs are
designed not for ergonomicity, but for their mnemonic value.  For
example, C-b C-f C-p C-n make just as little sense on a Dvorak
keyboard as they do on an American.  This is in stark difference to
the bindings of vi, where the cursor movements hjkl very much depend
on a Qwert-based keyboard layout in order to work.

In my opinion, national keyboard themes would not be worth the trouble
for Emacs, but keeping in mind keys like "`@\" and a few others as
being awkward in particular in connection with modifier keys will be a
boon for many users.

-- 
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum