[BRLTTY] Smart Copy (Was: Re: xbrlapi: Minor clipboard issues and one small feature) request

[Dave Mielke]

[quoted lines by Sébastien Hinderer on 2026/02/21 at 10:11 +0100]

>> Do you have any suggestions as to possible key combinations for it?
>
>Sadly, not immediately.

Okay. Right now, the command is defined and works but the binding doesn't. I'll try to think of one.

>I do not understand why the manual uses the word
>`cut` as hwat we do is really copy text andnever cut it?

That was written a long time ago, i.e. when the commands were CUT... rather than COPY..., so it's just ancient history.

>given how the section introduceds hthe
>need for copy andpast for long txt, I think the smaprt copy will be a
>great addition to it.

Probably, yes. The real problem, though, is that it's out of date and there are other missing commands, too.

>I am just wondring how it will fit in the current framework because what
>the manal says is that one should start by selecting the beginingof the
>region one wants to manipulate.

That's the way those commands work.

>If I understand the current implementaiton of smart copy this
>requirement of selecting the beginning is removed.

Yes.

>I am not sure I am found of that. I think even for a smart copy I'd
>prefer the smartness to go to the right from where I selected, not to
>the left. To me that owuld be more coherent with how things already
>work.

But, in this case, do we want that kind of strict consistency? Your origial complaint was that it's hard to find the end of a URL. In theory, it's equally hard to find the beginning of a URL. So why not just let the software do the work in both directions. Isn't that provided ease more important than an obscure kind of consistency?

>Also, coming back to the manual, perhaps things could be made clearer by
>fisrst explaining what can be copied, i.e. rectangular or linear areas
>of the screen, before turning to the steps.

I'm sure that documentation could be clarified.

>Also, in each of the two first steps, there are two sub-items that start
>with "invoke". Perhaps the manual could emphasize that it's either one
>or the other? At the moment they are listed in sequence and, although it
>is unordered lists that are used it may be helpful to clarify even
>further that it's not the two invokcations that need to be performed,
>but ratherone of them?

Again, there are probably much better ways to write that section.

>I'm happy to propose an update to the manual once we agree on these
>things and on whether smart copy should be looking also at the left of
>the character that has been selected (I think not).

I always accept constructive updates. One thing to bear in mind, though, is that - really - the whole manual is out-of-date. I hate writing in that style of SGML and no one has offered to help. My latest custom - over the last several yers - has been to provide READMEs on various topics.

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