"John J. Foerch" <[email protected]> writes:

>   Shall I make this change?  Thoughts?

I must say, I've been using Conkeror with the default setting ever since
this behavior was added, and I've never had a link be inadvertently
followed due to this issue.  Certainly, if there were no delay, it would
be a problem.  Note that as long as the user is still typing, the
timeout will keep being reset and a link will not be followed, even if
the matches had already been narrowed down to only one.  This is done
precisely to prevent unintended commands being executed.

I think the issue is no so much what the default is but rather that
people are unaware of exactly how the system works.  In particular, you
have to make sure not to pause too long if you make a mistake in typing
before hitting backspace.  I think it may require some adapting to learn
how to use the system, and in particular it may be hard to adapt without
actually understanding how it works, but overall following links
automatically leads to a more efficient user interface, I think.  For
some people that prefer to type slower, simply setting the delay higher
may work well (or disabling the auto following completely).

I do generally agree that it is problematic when the effect of a key
command is non-deterministic from the user's point of view, due to the
possibility of some event occurring in between key strokes and causing
the focus/context to change.  The main case where this occurs in
Conkeror is with the download prompt, but usually it is expected when it
comes up, so it is not as much of an issue as it might otherwise be.

I don't view the hints system as such a case, though; ruling out what
the hints system does would essentially mean ruling out any "dynamic"
(meaning time-dependent) behavior in user interfaces.  I agree that
there are some advantages to purely "static" user interfaces, but
"dynamics" also can allow things to be more efficient, so in the end it
is a tradeoff.


-- 
Jeremy Maitin-Shepard
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