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Why is the terminal input so weird?

warp.dev

91–100 of 185 posts

Re: Why is the terminal input so weird?

#92

I like the idea of Warp, but I just can't get past the whole "login required to use a terminal" thing. If you force a login to use your closed-source app, beta or not, I'm sorry, but I can't take any commitment to privacy you make seriously whatsoever. No matter how well-intentioned you may be. That well's been poisoned beyond redemption by far worse people than you and there's just no going back. Now if that login r…

It also doesn't support/play nice with[1] tmux, which was a hard deal breaker for me.

[1] https://github.com/warpdotdev/Warp/discussions/501

Re: Why is the terminal input so weird?

#93
post #68
post #3

As much as I'd like to encourage the rethinking of input methods, any terminal with a "Pricing" page is an instant nope from me. My current terminal is Open Source and while it's not perfect, it's also Free. That matters more to me than mouse input or IDE autosuggestions. If you're going to treat Linux users as a second-class citizen and charge for corporate usage, who are you hoping your target audience will be? Fra…

This terminal could be good for people learning a new commandline tool. Can fish shell show inline the documentation for the command flags during completion? Tools with better DX (developer experience) are a market that's been tapped into heavily in the past few years, personally I'm not surprised there's a pricing page. Would I pay for something like this? Probably never; I don't feel like I need to optimize my term…

> can fish shell show inline docs

Yes, it can. It's not the full docs of course, but tab completion for flags often comes with a one liner about what it does from the docs [1].

[1]: https://blog.jpalardy.com/posts/fish-shell-is-awesome/

Re: Why is the terminal input so weird?

#94
Dark pattern #1: Allowing the user to download the app and only then requiring the user to login/signup. This is because you know very well almost nobody will bother to try your terminal if you make it clear you require a login up front. But if they've gone to the trouble of downloading it, dragging it to Applications and running it, then maybe they'll go all the way.

Dark pattern #2: On sign-up, you "agree to our terms of service" but then you have the gall to say, on unsubscribe: "you are currently subscribed to our opt-in messaging. Do you want to remove yourself from opt-in messaging?"

Agreeing to a 17 page terms of service document might be technically "opting in" to messaging (spam), but it sure isn't in spirit. Opting in is when you click on a, previously unchecked, check box that has "I'd like to receive marketing from you".

I'm sure there's plenty more but I uninstalled it already.

Re: Why is the terminal input so weird?

#95

Seventy-five to one hundred percent of the author's complaints are addressed by the `fc` command and I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet. Fc opens $EDITOR and upon exiting executes the saved contents. It's great for editing a complex command, but perhaps a tad obscure.

Also bash supports Ctrl-X + Ctrl-E to open $EDITOR to edit the current prompt.

In vi mode (i.e. after "set -o vi") in bash or zsh, you can open $EDITOR on the current prompt contents with: Esc, then v

Re: Why is the terminal input so weird?

#97
post #87
post #80

A lot of those complaints are non issues with the default terminal in MacOS. Option + mouse click moves the cursor to where ever, control+a|e move to the beginning or end of the line, option+arrow jumps words, and the arrows navigate up and down lines just fine... What am I missing?

You're missing the fact that those shortcuts are not discoverable.

An oddball custom Terminal is not discoverable either.

There's no substitute for learning the tools.

If you ever find yourself thinking "weird that there's no way to X", in a shell or editor, you're probably wrong.

Re: Why is the terminal input so weird?

#98

Seventy-five to one hundred percent of the author's complaints are addressed by the `fc` command and I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet. Fc opens $EDITOR and upon exiting executes the saved contents. It's great for editing a complex command, but perhaps a tad obscure.

If using iTerm2, you can also press Shift+Cmd+. and it will open a small window/prompt where you can type your command while still interacting with the terminal.

Re: Why is the terminal input so weird?

#100
Let's be honest here, nobody is using this warp terminal as long as it's closed-source and especially not when it has built-in tracking.

To the warp terminal developers:

I'm sure your terminal program is great, but stop posting this content-marketing stuff here. It's not your audience.

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