Account Options

  1. Sign in
The old Google Groups will be going away soon, but your browser is incompatible with the new version.
Google Groups Home
« Groups Home
Autocomplete behavior discussion
There are currently too many topics in this group that display first. To make this topic appear first, remove this option from another topic.
There was an error processing your request. Please try again.
flag
  17 messages - Collapse all  -  Translate all to Translated (View all originals)
The group you are posting to is a Usenet group. Messages posted to this group will make your email address visible to anyone on the Internet.
Your reply message has not been sent.
Your post was successful
 
From:
To:
Cc:
Followup To:
Add Cc | Add Followup-to | Edit Subject
Subject:
Validation:
For verification purposes please type the characters you see in the picture below or the numbers you hear by clicking the accessibility icon. Listen and type the numbers you hear
 
Steve Johnson  
View profile  
 More options Jan 2 2011, 1:54 pm
From: Steve Johnson <sr...@case.edu>
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2011 13:54:05 -0500
Local: Sun, Jan 2 2011 1:54 pm
Subject: Autocomplete behavior discussion

Kod's current autocomplete system uses the default Cocoa behavior because I
wanted to work on the back end, not the front end. Now the back end is in
place and it's time to make the interface behave in a way that makes sense
to programmers.

Things I have been hearing that I agree with:
- Esc/Shift+Esc should cycle through results rather than bringing the menu
up and closing it repeatedly
- These keys should be customizable
- Resulting text should not be selected, but rather the cursor should be
moved to the end of the completed word (like TextMate, naturally)
- The results list is not always necessary and can get in the way. But I
like seeing the list if the first suggestion isn't what I want.

Here is what I propose:
- Keyboard shortcuts will be preferences, though I may not get around to the
GUI for some time
- The default Cocoa autocomplete behavior will be completely disabled and a
custom system put in its place
- That means the suggestions list will be temporarily removed, but I want to
bring it back with syntax-highlighted items
- Whatever the consensus is on Perfect Autocomplete Behavior will be
implemented

What is Perfect Autocomplete Behavior? I have two models to work from. One
is TextMate, the simplest. Esc/Shift+Esc cycles through results and the
cursor is kept at the end. The other is Xcode, which shows a "completion
ghost" which is accepted if you press Return, in addition to an Esc
suggestions menu. I think I prefer the TextMate model with the addition of a
list that appears if the first suggestion is not taken. It's certainly
easier to implement.

Your thoughts?

-Steve Johnson


 
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Swizec Teller  
View profile  
 More options Jan 2 2011, 2:54 pm
From: Swizec Teller <swi...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2011 20:54:35 +0100
Local: Sun, Jan 2 2011 2:54 pm
Subject: Re: Autocomplete behavior discussion

From all the autocomplete systems I've worked with over the years,
XCode's seems the least intrusive and thus the least annoying.

Therefore, my vote goes towards autocompletion ghosts.

~Swizec

On 2 January 2011 19:54, Steve Johnson <sr...@case.edu> wrote:


 
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Mario Michelli  
View profile  
 More options Jan 2 2011, 3:01 pm
From: Mario Michelli <mmiche...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2011 21:01:30 +0100
Local: Sun, Jan 2 2011 3:01 pm
Subject: Re: Autocomplete behavior discussion

Autocomplete ghosting definitely has my vote, it's easy to ignore and feels
more elegant.

Sent from my iPad

On Jan 2, 2011, at 8:54 PM, Swizec Teller <swi...@gmail.com> wrote:

From all the autocomplete systems I've worked with over the years,
XCode's seems the least intrusive and thus the least annoying.

Therefore, my vote goes towards autocompletion ghosts.

~Swizec

On 2 January 2011 19:54, Steve Johnson <sr...@case.edu> wrote:

 --
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Kod.app" group. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
kod-app+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com (More info at
http://groups.google.com/group/kod-app)

 
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Reed Stoner  
View profile  
 More options Jan 2 2011, 3:20 pm
From: Reed Stoner <kalte...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2011 15:20:15 -0500
Local: Sun, Jan 2 2011 3:20 pm
Subject: Re: Autocomplete behavior discussion

I'm with Mario and Swizec

Reed

On Jan 2, 2011, at 3:00 PM, Mario Michelli <mmiche...@gmail.com> wrote:

Autocomplete ghosting definitely has my vote, it's easy to ignore and feels
more elegant.

Sent from my iPad

On Jan 2, 2011, at 8:54 PM, Swizec Teller <swi...@gmail.com> wrote:

From all the autocomplete systems I've worked with over the years,
XCode's seems the least intrusive and thus the least annoying.

Therefore, my vote goes towards autocompletion ghosts.

~Swizec

On 2 January 2011 19:54, Steve Johnson < <sr...@case.edu>sr...@case.edu>wrote:

 --
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Kod.app" group. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
kod-app+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com (More info at
<http://groups.google.com/group/kod-app>
http://groups.google.com/group/kod-app)

 --
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Kod.app" group. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
kod-app+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com (More info at
http://groups.google.com/group/kod-app)


 
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Steve Johnson  
View profile  
 More options Jan 2 2011, 3:55 pm
From: Steve Johnson <sr...@case.edu>
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2011 15:55:05 -0500
Local: Sun, Jan 2 2011 3:55 pm
Subject: Re: Autocomplete behavior discussion

So are you guys saying you don't mind if you have to use the arrow keys to
cycle through suggestions?


 
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Mario  
View profile  
 More options Jan 2 2011, 4:24 pm
From: Mario <mmiche...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2011 22:24:01 +0100
Local: Sun, Jan 2 2011 4:24 pm
Subject: Re: Autocomplete behavior discussion

I type until it gives me the right option. I never really cycle through them anyway, so using the arrow keys is fine.
Thinking about it:
You won't go far wrong imitating the behaviour of chrome and firefox's location bar.

Is it worth talking about snippets in the same thread?

On 2 Jan 2011, at 21:55, Steve Johnson <sr...@case.edu> wrote:


 
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Swizec Teller  
View profile  
 More options Jan 2 2011, 4:31 pm
From: Swizec Teller <swi...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2011 22:31:09 +0100
Local: Sun, Jan 2 2011 4:31 pm
Subject: Re: Autocomplete behavior discussion

I'm with Mario. Just type until the right suggestion is there.

In that regard I probably use it more as some sort of contextualised
spellchecker. :P

The idea being that I type faster than it usually takes me to pick
suggestions from a list.

~Swizec

On 2 January 2011 22:24, Mario <mmiche...@gmail.com> wrote:


 
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Reed Stoner  
View profile  
 More options Jan 2 2011, 4:45 pm
From: Reed Stoner <kalte...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2011 16:45:58 -0500
Local: Sun, Jan 2 2011 4:45 pm
Subject: Re: Autocomplete behavior discussion

I favor the type until right as well. Though it would be nice to have some
way to get a popup list with another key stroke. Something like ESC - ESC or
ESC - up arrow. (The exact shortcut isn't important right now)  That way, if
you don't know or aren't sure of exact spelling of the symbol or method you
can at least have a list to look through.

Reed

Sent from my iPad

On Jan 2, 2011, at 4:31 PM, Swizec Teller <swi...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm with Mario. Just type until the right suggestion is there.

In that regard I probably use it more as some sort of contextualised
spellchecker. :P

The idea being that I type faster than it usually takes me to pick
suggestions from a list.

~Swizec

On 2 January 2011 22:24, Mario <mmiche...@gmail.com> wrote:

 --
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Kod.app" group. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
kod-app+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com (More info at
http://groups.google.com/group/kod-app)

 
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Ze'ev Klapow  
View profile  
 More options Jan 2 2011, 5:23 pm
From: Ze'ev Klapow <zkla...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2011 14:23:53 -0800
Local: Sun, Jan 2 2011 5:23 pm
Subject: Re: Autocomplete behavior discussion

I agree. I think an Xcode style implementation of auto-complete is the best way to go that way you get the suggestion as you type but you can also get a popup with all the suggestions by hitting ESC.

Ze'ev
On Jan 2, 2011, at 1:45 PM, Reed Stoner wrote:


 
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Agos  
View profile  
 More options Jan 2 2011, 6:32 pm
From: Agos <arag...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2011 15:32:31 -0800 (PST)
Local: Sun, Jan 2 2011 6:32 pm
Subject: Re: Autocomplete behavior discussion

On Sunday, January 2, 2011 8:54:35 PM UTC+1, Swizec Teller wrote:

> From all the autocomplete systems I've worked with over the years,
> XCode's seems the least intrusive and thus the least annoying.

> Therefore, my vote goes towards autocompletion ghosts.

Does XCode also have “tab stops” in his code completion too, or am I wrong?

Also, style-able code completion! Über-cool! :D


 
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Stephan Müller  
View profile  
 More options Jan 2 2011, 6:49 pm
From: Stephan Müller <muellerstep...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2011 15:49:35 -0800 (PST)
Local: Sun, Jan 2 2011 6:49 pm
Subject: Re: Autocomplete behavior discussion

> Here is what I propose:
> - Keyboard shortcuts will be preferences, though I may not get around to the
> GUI for some time

Just make a menu item. So the keyboard shortcuts can be changed in the
system preferences until the preference GUI is finished.

> From all the autocomplete systems I've worked with over the years,
> XCode's seems the least intrusive and thus the least annoying.

> Therefore, my vote goes towards autocompletion ghosts.

I think one reason its not that intrusive is, that the word
suggestions are very well sorted and context sensitive. If we use it
for all the words we would complete right now, things may change.

There should be noted, that Xcode too has autocompletion with ESC, and
completes a lot more words that way. Maybe we should keep ghost-
completion and ESC-completion separated? The user could choose which
variant he prefers and which words will be completed.

Maybe I have big hands, but to press ESC, I can leave my thenar
resting next to the keypad and only need to move my fingers. Its
really easy and fast to press ESC and move back to the writing
position. To access the keypad however, I need to move my whole hand,
and even my arm. Thats why I really would like to keep the ESC-cycling
ability, if possible. To close the autocomplete overlay, just keep on
typing until no more match is found and the window disappears, or
press backspace.

Xcode also implements the previously mentioned "keep on typing to
filter" feature within the ESCish autocompletion. However, this will
need the backspace key to not leave autocompletion, so you can
rebroaden your filter or correct typos.

The main reason I want to cycle thru a autocomplete list at all, are
cases like "veryLongWord_foo" vs. "veryLongWord_bar". I don't want to
type the whole "veryLongWord" just to tell the autocomplete system
that I need to append "_foo" instead of "_bar".
An alternate approach to solve this could be the use of TAB to
complete until any of the possibilities differ. (Similar to path
completion in bash.)

And one final idea: If you use TAB to accept the autocompletion, keep
the autocompletion list open. An additional TAB will select the next
item, SHIFT-TAB the previous. Any other key will act like usual and
additionally close the autocompletion list.


 
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
aristidesfl  
View profile  
 More options Jan 3 2011, 1:27 pm
From: aristidesfl <aristide...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 10:27:43 -0800 (PST)
Local: Mon, Jan 3 2011 1:27 pm
Subject: Re: Autocomplete behavior discussion

If it works like Xcode, I think it is perfect, but...
be aware that XCode has hidden options to customize autocompletion, which
allow you to make it behave like previous versions. (with suggestion list
autopopup)


 
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
aristidesfl  
View profile  
 More options Jan 3 2011, 1:28 pm
From: aristidesfl <aristide...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 10:28:35 -0800 (PST)
Local: Mon, Jan 3 2011 1:28 pm
Subject: Re: Autocomplete behavior discussion

just like coda or espresso


 
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Zach LeBar  
View profile  
 More options Jan 3 2011, 2:05 pm
From: Zach LeBar <zachle...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 14:05:16 -0500
Local: Mon, Jan 3 2011 2:05 pm
Subject: Re: Autocomplete behavior discussion

I also am a fan of Xcode's autocomplete, and I'd love to see it in Kod. But having the ability to customize it like aristidesfl mentions might be nice for those who prefer the popup style.

The only thing I wonder about is how useful autocomplete will be. Now, I'm not sure if that has more to do with the bundles/plugins than what we're discussing here, but I know autocomplete is particularly frustrating to me when say I'm writing CSS and typing "wid...", looking for "width" and what insists on coming up I'd "widows". I never use "widows", but because it's alphabetically first, it shows up. I guess what I'm saying is, I'd love to have the autocomplete system be aware, and change/adapt to what I use an type frequently.

- Zach LeBar

On Jan 3, 2011, at 1:27 PM, aristidesfl <aristide...@gmail.com> wrote:


 
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Agos  
View profile  
 More options Jan 3 2011, 5:03 pm
From: Agos <arag...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 14:03:04 -0800 (PST)
Local: Mon, Jan 3 2011 5:03 pm
Subject: Re: Autocomplete behavior discussion

On Monday, January 3, 2011 8:05:16 PM UTC+1, zachlebar wrote:

> The only thing I wonder about is how useful autocomplete will be. Now, I'm
> not sure if that has more to do with the bundles/plugins than what we're
> discussing here, but I know autocomplete is particularly frustrating to me
> when say I'm writing CSS and typing "wid...", looking for "width" and what
> insists on coming up I'd "widows". I never use "widows", but because it's
> alphabetically first, it shows up. I guess what I'm saying is, I'd love to
> have the autocomplete system be aware, and change/adapt to what I use an
> type frequently.

Oh, you bring back painful memories! Those widows! The autocomplete feature
implemented by both Coda and Espresso is obnoxious and bordering on useless,
and furthermore there is no obvious way to turn it off, so it just
interrupts your flow. Yet another demonstration that any order is more
natural than the alphabetic one.

 
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Steve Johnson  
View profile  
 More options Jan 3 2011, 7:12 pm
From: Steve Johnson <sr...@case.edu>
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 19:12:30 -0500
Local: Mon, Jan 3 2011 7:12 pm
Subject: Re: Autocomplete behavior discussion

You know, you could actually try the feature as it exists before bemoaning
its theoretical badness. It uses all the words in the file, and will
eventually allow extensions to provide further suggestions.


 
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Zach LeBar  
View profile  
 More options Jan 3 2011, 8:01 pm
From: Zach LeBar <zachle...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 20:01:30 -0500
Local: Mon, Jan 3 2011 8:01 pm
Subject: Re: Autocomplete behavior discussion

Oh, I wasn't bemoaning anything yet. I haven't gotten a chance to try it yet, I plan to. I was just venting a little about previous implementations that just didn't cut it IMO. Glad to see others know what I'm talking about though, and that Kod isn't headed in that direction.

- Zach LeBar

On Jan 3, 2011, at 7:12 PM, Steve Johnson <sr...@case.edu> wrote:


 
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
End of messages
« Back to Discussions « Newer topic     Older topic »