Why can't you just use the default windows text libraries?

It would be much easier and more intuitive to use the normal text found in all other websites, rather than the fiddly stuff I assume you designed yourself.

Yeah

why?

what are you talking about?

I think he's saying snap should just use html text in snap.

The Canvas is more handy.

I think this is a vast overestimate. Many web sites use fonts chosen to set a tone, such as


to suggest informality, or conversely

to suggest extreme formality, as in wedding invitations. Or

for readability (notice how easily you can distinguish capital i, lower case L, digit 1, and vertical bar).

I don't know what you mean by "fiddly" but I believe Jens just uses Helvetica in Snap!.

if this is about using html text elements instead of drawing text on the canvas, why are you referring to html text as "default windows text libraries?" browsers run on Mac and Linux, too.

I don't mean for the website, that you can't interact with. I mean like, in a text box, the methods for selecting and moving around in text are counter intuitive and confusing.
If you, say, use an html text box then it would be much easier to use and I presume simpler to code.

Can you give an example project that shows the issues you are having?

It's just... writing text. In any input. For example, if the default is not empty, then its often hard to easily select all to delete it. And going back a just few spaces using the cursor keys does not work.

OK - that sounds a bit strange

On my machine, when I click on some text in an input slot - it selects all the text

image

and I can just press delete and it is all deleted

image

If instead of deleting, I click again - then the cursor appears

image

If I then use left arrow to move 2 letters - the cursor moves

image

What happens on your browser?

I use Vivaldi which is a Chrome derived browser

If you don't click it in exactly the right place, it doesn't select all, and when you hold left arrow it just takes you to the beginning of the text.
Plus, the letters look too small and bold - not like in a textbox on any other website, which makes me think they programmed the textbox themselves rather than just using one with html, or using one that works like html.

ctrl+A or cmd+A

I've just remembered that I run mine at zoom blocks 1.2 setting (due to my eyesight) so that may be why I'm not having the trouble you seem be having

And now that I think about it, on occasion, when I click on the input, it sometimes only selects up to the cursor - but its a rare event and a simple click outside and click again solves that :slight_smile:

I've never had a problem with moving the cursor using the arrow keys

And as @snapenilk says, all the kbd shortcuts that I use (ctrl-c,ctrl-v,ctrl-x, home and end) all work just as well as anything else

it's really just moving the cursor without displaying it until you let go of the key. I agree this can be annoying.

Oh I see. Long ago, Jens made the design decision to build Snap! on top of Morphic, which supports live coding better than the DOM does. So the text input box is implemented in Morphic, like everything else. The reason has to do with the handling of screen elements that overlap, but I forget the details.

So I don't think you're going to get exactly what you want here, but feel free to file detailed bug reports about specific things that don't work for you.

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