Keyboard selection of elements in Author mode is odd; what am I doing wrong?
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2016 12:51 pm
I have just started using Oxygen (17.1, on Windows 10) to edit DITA. I have used several other validating XML editors, including Arbortext.
Oxygen's keyboard-based edit selection behavior in Author mode strikes me as odd. This makes me think that I'm doing something wrong; or at least, missing something.
For example, I want to select the <section> element in the following DITA snippet:
I expected, in Author mode, that if I moved the insertion point just before the <section> start tag, and then pressed Shift + right arrow, Oxygen would select the <section> element. Nope. It only selects - or rather, it only highlights (there's a difference, as we'll see) - the <section> start tag. Pressing Shift + right arrow again expands the highlighting (I'm deliberately not using the word "selection" here) to include the <title> start tag.
I was, frankly, a little shocked. Based on my experience with other editors - not just XML editors - there is typically a close correspondence between what is highlighted and what is selected (what gets copied'n'pasted). According to the highlighting shown in the editor, I had selected two consecutive start tags. What had I selected in terms of the XML tree?
Copying and pasting to a new DITA document gave me the answer:
It's starting to dawn on me that I need to unlearn some of my expectations. As demonstrated above, in Oxygen, what is highlighted does not directly match what is selected. I sincerely mean no offense by that statement, but I do mean to provoke a response. Perhaps, in time, I will learn to love this behavior. But right now, it strikes me as odd, even counterintuitive. And I thought it was worth capturing that "newbie" reaction here, even if I later recant.
I realize that I can mouse-click the <section> start tag to select the element. Is there some way to do this with the keyboard, without defining a shortcut key for the Document > Select > Element menu option? I've defined such a shortcut, but I'm still in denial about having to do that; I still suspect I'm missing something; doing something wrong.
I'd appreciate thoughts and suggestions from experienced Oxygen users.
(Note: these comments are specifically restricted to Author mode.)
Graham Hannington
Oxygen's keyboard-based edit selection behavior in Author mode strikes me as odd. This makes me think that I'm doing something wrong; or at least, missing something.
For example, I want to select the <section> element in the following DITA snippet:
Code: Select all
<conbody>
<section><title>My concept</title>
<p><keyword>TLA</keyword> ... </p>
</section>
</conbody>
I was, frankly, a little shocked. Based on my experience with other editors - not just XML editors - there is typically a close correspondence between what is highlighted and what is selected (what gets copied'n'pasted). According to the highlighting shown in the editor, I had selected two consecutive start tags. What had I selected in terms of the XML tree?
Copying and pasting to a new DITA document gave me the answer:
Code: Select all
<section><title>My concept</title></section>
I realize that I can mouse-click the <section> start tag to select the element. Is there some way to do this with the keyboard, without defining a shortcut key for the Document > Select > Element menu option? I've defined such a shortcut, but I'm still in denial about having to do that; I still suspect I'm missing something; doing something wrong.
I'd appreciate thoughts and suggestions from experienced Oxygen users.
(Note: these comments are specifically restricted to Author mode.)
Graham Hannington