Comment 198 for bug 221112

(In reply to comment #69)
> (In reply to comment #66)
>
> > Regarding the voting, is there generic popular Linux-oriented site in
> > France? Like slashdot.org or smth...
>
> There is a popular Linux-oriented site in France (linuxfr.org) and the
> final ajustments of this layout were done after discussion on this site.

But this has the same pitfall as any volunteered survey, it isn't any kind of representative. I for example myself barely ever read a linuxfr article, and wouldn't participate or even see a survey there. That doesn't mean I'm not a French fr/oss user :)

Also note that people suffering from the situations are a lot more likely to do something and speak their mind than people perfectly happy with the situation. So probably "discussing" a problem is likely to only include opinion from people not happy with the current state, and people closely involved.

> I realise there is a vocal minority that does not like some of those choices
> but

Just to be fair, I see *no one* else here arguing towards keeping right Ctrl Level5 modifier -- but sure, as I state above, people happy with it won't see the discussion or care, so it may be biased.

> 1. the other alternatives used in the ancestors of this layout generated a
> lot more hate mail

If it broke people's apps (or apps broke with it, I don't care who's fault it is), I surely can understand people being angry. But similarly, since the change from this report broke people's right Ctrl key, I can understand they get angry.

> 2. because I knew there was no choice everyone would like spacebar layout is
> modular (and I'm the person who modularized it as part of the creation of
> this layout). People can choose the previous behaviour if they want and a
> few other possibilities were added as part of the modularization

And we thank you for your work. But I don't think it's realistic to think everyone can "choose the previous behavior" if it means editing the keymap. I already said it, but it took me quite some time to find what caused my right Ctrl key to no longer work and fix it, and I think it's fair to consider myself a quite advanced user.

If really reverting the addition of Level5 is not an option (but see below), please add an alternative layout.

> 3. so far no one proposed any better option appart from removing symbols
> which are necessary to write proper French (arguably proper French is not
> the same as C code).

The change in this particular report did not add or remove any symbol, it only moved one to Level5 because some apps couldn't handle <Ctrl>Space with this layout. And as I said earlier, most of the incriminated apps (at least that I know of) don't even use <Ctrl>Space anymore, rendering the change moot for them.

And even if we wanted to please those apps, we mayb be able to without adding a new modifier (Level5) and a key for it -- again, see (comment #46).

Also note that event though I admittedly don't use short-nbsp (I'm afraid I don't know the rules where this one should be used in French typography), I'm an heavy user of nbsp everywhere French typography tells me to do it. So no, I don't want to remove anything, don't worry -- but I'd like my right Ctrl key back :)

> It's a lot easier to clamor for removal of the bits you
> do not use than to try to design a general-purpose solution without cutting
> corners

It sure is, but although my nearly non-existent knowledge of keymaps may make my message somewhat irrelevant (e.g. I don't know how to apply my ideas), I investigated possible solutions in comment #46 -- although no one followed up on those.