RE: Why are <next> and <prior> not called <page down> and <page up>?

[Drew Adams]

    >>> Why does not key-description use the names <page down> and
    >>> <page up>?
    >>>
    >>
    >> 'Cause X11 calls them `prior' and `next'?
    >>
    > As does MS Windows at the API level, but these messages are intended
    > for end users, not programmers, so it is better to follow how
    > the keys are labelled on the majority of modern keyboards than the
    > names used in the header files.
    >
    > Personally, the last time I saw these keys labelled Next and
    > Prior was in 1992. Since then, every keyboard I have used has labelled
    > them Page Up/Page Down or PgUp/PgDn or some other abbreviation.
    >
    > But I wouldn't suggest changing this until after the release, as it
    > probably affects lots of documentation, even if we keep the old names
    > as aliases for backwards compatibility.

    I suggest changing them at once. 14 years is a long wait. I think
    changing this makes it much easier for new users.

    Would it be terribly difficult to try to change it in the documentation?

Sorry to disagree, but I don't think this is a good idea. I share the desire
to make things more user-friendly, and I agree that it would be good to
somehow indicate that the keys involved might be labeled Page Up and Page
Down (or PgUp and PgDn or...) on your keyboard, but <prior> and <next> are
standard names, which means that users can find things out about them (e.g.
Google).

What might help would be to explain in the doc (if this is not already done)
that <prior> and <next> often correspond to keys labeled Page Up and Page
Down. Beyond that, I think it's better for users to learn to recognize the
(standard) names of these keys.

A standard, however poorly named it might be, is an entry to lots of help on
the Internet. If you hide the standard name from users, then you hide that
key from users, leaving them locked out of useful information.

Also, this is not something that affects only the documentation; the UI
refers to these keys by their standard names - as it should, IMO.

Finally, "next" and "prior" are _not_ bad names for these keys, especially
for Emacs. The most common action associated with them (unmodified) is "next
_page_" and "prior _page_", but different Emacs buffers and functions can
give these next and prior keys different associations. The abstract notion
of "next" and "prior" (or previous or preceding) is what is important.

This is similar to the case for `up' and `down' (and `left' and `right').
Those keys are often labeled with arrows, but imagine if they, like Page Up,
were labeled Line Up and Line Down. The more generic names `up', `down',
`next', and `prior' are superior, precisely because they are more generic.
Add a modifier key, and Page Up might no longer mean "page up"; it might
mean "paragraph up" or something else. Or change Emacs modes, and Page Up
might mean "prior buffer" instead of prior line. You get the idea: it is
Page Down, not Next, that is, in fact, a bad name. Of course, we can't
change how keys are labeled...