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

["Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com>]

    > <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.

In terms of search, probably neither term is very helpful, and searching for
both would be necessary (and still not very fruitful). But if you do get
hold of the standard somehow, then you can find things out about those keys;
that's really what I meant.

    What is the context of the search then? I think most users do not
    know at all that "page down" is sometimes called "next".

And? Most users don't know that the `left' key is the left-arrow either.
Should we call it `<-'?

    Are those searches very technical? Would it not suffice then to point
    out in the manual that those keys are often called "next" etc?

Sure, that could go either way. But why not point to the standard name,
instead of pointing the standard name to a name that happenst to be printed
on many keyboards?

With your argument, we would not distinguish numeric keypad keys from the
identically labeled keys on the main keyboard pad. The keyboard labels only
get you so far; they don't get you to any technical info on the key
definitions (standard), and they aren't even sufficient to uniquely identify
keys.

And what about all the variants of the TAB key (ISO this and that, <tab> vs
C-i, etc.)? In terms of key labels, they might all be labeled "Tab", but
Emacs users must sometimes distinguish them.

Keyboard key labels are nice, and they are perhaps user friendly, but at
some point we need to say which standard key is behind the label. Emacs,
above all other apps (because it uses keys differently in diff modes, is
customizable, etc.), should refer to a standard name for what might be
labeled in one way or another on any particular keyboard.

    But for the beginners I think we should label then "page down"/pgdn or
    something similar. I remember I had trouble to understand what "next"
etc
    was when I started using Emacs. Were they internal names for something
etc?

Did you have trouble with `left' and `right'? Is it obvious which keys those
are? If not, should we rename them `<-' and `->' because that is closer to
what is shown on the keyboard keys? What about `Enter' and `Return'?
Keyboard labels are not such a great reference system - but we should
mention the commonly used labels in the doc.