Awkwardness positioning the cursor while editing

Question

I am using FM 2020, structured, DITA 1.3.When I edit DITA files, I find that positioning the cursor for an insertion point and selecting text for copy/cutting to be awkward. In particular, the default behaviour of the and keys, mouse-clicks and cursor keys is often inconsistent and unintuitive (and therefore inefficient). For example:There are some inconsistencies in whether or not the end result includes or excludes element tags.There are some inconsistencies in the end result depending on whether you press a key on the keyboard vs. clicking on the text with a mouse.The more common behaviour, which is to include element tags in the selection, makes editing inefficient NOTE: while I can make some reasonable guesses as to the programmatical reasons for why FM behaves this way, I am raising these concerns/observations from a usability perspective. NOTE: I have created https://tracker.adobe.com/#/view/FRMAKER-12635, Please vote if you also want this issue addressed Positioning an Insertion Point.The following examples are all inside a elementUsing key on keyboardExample #1: cursor is on first line of text of a

element (in a element)Desired behaviour: move to beginning of text, INSIDE of the

elementActual behaviour: moves cursor to BEFORE the

element.Example #2: cursor is on second line of text of a

element (in a element)Desired behaviour: move to beginning of line of textActual behaviour: works as desired.Example #3: cursor is in middle of element inside a <fig>Desired behaviour: move to beginning of text, INSIDE of the <title> elementActual behaviour: moves cursor to BEFORE the <fig> element.Example #4: cursor is on first line of a text in a <cmd> element (inside a <step>)Desired behaviour: move to beginning of text, INSIDE of the <cmd> elementActual behaviour: works as desiredNOTE: this behaviour is inconsistent with Example #1 Using <End> key on keyboardThe desired and actual behaviours are the same as for the analogous four examples for the <Home> button.Using cursor keysExample #5: cursor is at start of second line of text of a element (in a <context> element), then the <up> cursor is pressedDesired behaviour: move to beginning of text of first line, INSIDE of the elementActual behaviour: moves cursor to BEFORE the element.Example #6: cursor is at end of second last line of text of a element (in a <context> element), then the <down> cursor is pressedDesired behaviour: move to end of text of last line, INSIDE of the elementActual behaviour: moves cursor to AFTER the element.Using the mouse (all mouse clicks are in the editor, NOT in the Structure View)Example #7: click at beginning of first line of text in a paragraph (in a <context> element)Desired behaviour: move to beginning of text, INSIDE of the elementActual behaviour: works as desiredNOTE: this behaviour is inconsistent with using the <Home> button Example #8: click at beginning of second line of text in a paragraph (in a <context> element)Desired behaviour: move to beginning of line of textActual behaviour: works as desired.Example #9: click at beginning of text for a <title> element inside a <fig>)Desired behaviour: move to beginning of text, INSIDE of the <title> elementActual behaviour: works as desired.NOTE: this behaviour is inconsistent with using the <Home> button Example #10: click at end of last line of a paragraph (in a <context> element)Desired behaviour: move to end of text, INSIDE of the elementActual behaviour: moves cursor to AFTER the element.NOTE: this behaviour is inconsistent with clicking at the start of the first line of a paragraph NOTE: if one is very careful to click ON the second half of the last character, then the actual behaviour matches the desired. But that requires careful positioning of the mouse.Example #11: click after the end of a line to text of a <cmd> element (inside a <step>)Desired behaviour: move to end of text, INSIDE of the <cmd> elementActual behaviour: works as desiredNOTE: this behaviour is inconsistent with Example #10, because it does not matter where the click is (i.e. clicking on the last character or well after the last character have same result in this example) Selecting text for copying/cutting.When selecting text for copying/cutting, I often position my cursor at some point, then hold the <shift> key down, and either use <home|end> keys, cursors, or mouse-clicks. All of the above issues occur as well here, but with a couple of additional issues related to multiple presses of the <home> (or <end> keys).Example #12: cursor is on second line of FIRST paragraph (in a <context> element)First press of <shift> + <home>Desired behaviour: select all text up to beginning of line of textActual behaviour: works as desired.NOTE: this behaviour is consistent with Example #2 above Second press of <shift> + <home>Desired behaviour: select all text up to beginning of first line of text, INSIDE of the elementActual behaviour: selects everything in the entire <taskbody>NOTE: this behaviour is not consistent with Example #1 above, which is what I was expecting… Third press of <shift> + <home>Desired behaviour: select the entire elementActual behaviour: selects everything in the entire <task> elementExample #13: cursor is on second line of SECOND paragraph (in a <context> element)First press of <shift> + <home>Same as Example #12Second press of <shift> + <home>Desired behaviour: select all text up to beginning of first line of text, INSIDE of the elementActual behaviour: selects the entire element >NOTE: this behaviour is inconsistent with Example #12Third press of <shift> + <home>Desired behaviour: select the entire elementNOTE: this desired behaviour for the third press is the same what actually happens after the Second pressActual behaviour: adds the entire previous element to the selectionNOTE: this behaviour is inconsistent with Example #12

Jeff_Coatsworth · Answer

Not being a structured dude myself, have you test-driven FM2022 to see if your concerns are happening in there? Because if they are, then FM2022+ would get any fixes, not FM2020.

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