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From: geof@su-shasta.arpa
Newsgroups: net.works
Subject: Re: Data Considered Harmful
Message-ID: <323@topaz.ARPA>
Date: Fri, 18-Jan-85 14:28:46 EST
Article-I.D.: topaz.323
Posted: Fri Jan 18 14:28:46 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 21-Jan-85 01:48:43 EST
Sender: daemon@topaz.ARPA
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Lines: 31

From: imagen!geof@su-shasta.arpa


Scrolling text gives me trouble too.  The best solution I've seen for it
is ``terminal wrap mode'' where the system causes just jumps to the
beginning of the screen when it gets to the end of the screen.  There is
no scrolling at all, so you don't have to close your eyes while the text
is being printed -- instead you can start reading.

In true terminal wrap mode, each line is erased just before it is
overwritten, so the entire terminal is still available for use, albeit
that the `bottom' of the text is not at the bottom of the terminal.  I
used to read mail on a 60-line screen by manually generating a ``double
buffered'' approach -- the system would stop at the bottom of the
screen, and I would ^Q/^S to allow another half screen of text to
arrive, so that I was reading the bottom of the screen when the top
was being displayed, and vice versa.

The MORE command on 4.1/4.2's (though not on some other systems) has a
'-c' option (you can say 'more -c' to get it, or 'setenv MORE -c' to
always get it) which gives a poor-man's wrap mode, where the screen is
cleared between each screenful.  I always use this now that I haven't
access to true wrap mode, and find it much more pleasant than scrolling.

I've tried smooth scroll.  I find that it makes matters worse.  The
thing that gives me a headache is having to scroll my eyes vertically at
all.  Eyes aren't good at scrolling that way.  Anything that requires
them to do more eye-scrolling is worse for me, and slow-scroll keeps the
text I am looking at in motion for longer each time it happens.

- Geof