On 28-Nov-04, at 6:00 PM, Allan Odgaard wrote:
But maybe I'm overlooking something -- it would be nice to hear from users of this feature why they see it as an advantage over normal search.
Speaking in general here, I don't mind implementing features that I personally have no use for, but I do want to understand why others have a use for the feature before implementing it! :)
Since this was my number one "missing feature", I think there's three reasons why implementing incremental search is important:
1. It's faster. Yes, maybe you only have the find dialog box open for less than a second, but: "Ctrl-S + Partial search string" is always going to be faster than "Apple-F + Full Search String + Enter". Also launching the dialog box occasionally takes a non trivial amount of time, particularly if the app has been swapped out. Factor in people who type slower, or those people who search out that last little bit of efficiency and it makes a difference.
2. Launching a dialog box is unnecessary for this task -- sometimes the dialog box obscures text that I am using for reference.
3. Many apps are moving towards this style, and people may be used to this way of working. As an emacs user, the incremental search style of working was ingrained into my usage patterns, and when beginning to use TextMate I was regularly frustrated with its absence. In addition to emacs -- this style of search is now becoming default in apps, so more people may become used to this ability -- the isearch plugin for NSTextView, Firefox, iTunes, etc. Better to give those addicted to isearch their fix, rather than have them look elsewhere, right?
That all said, I've largely gotten used to working without it. Indeed other features of TextMate such as making use of code folding has replaced my constant use of isearch for jumping around within a file. But I still look forward to the day it gets added to TextMate!
Wayne