[Bug 197645] Handbook does not mention using TAB character in bsdinstall section(s)

[bugzilla-noreply at freebsd.org]

https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=197645

            Bug ID: 197645
           Summary: Handbook does not mention using TAB character in
                    bsdinstall section(s)
           Product: Documentation
           Version: Latest
          Hardware: Any
                OS: Any
            Status: New
          Severity: Affects Some People
          Priority: ---
         Component: Documentation
          Assignee: freebsd-doc at FreeBSD.org
          Reporter: web at umich.edu

I don't install FreeBSD on a bare machine much these days, but I had the need
to do
a bare install yesterday.  I was completely frustrated when I got to the
"Manual"
partition section of bsdinstall.  Everything had gone fine up to that point,
but then
I could not create my partitions since the arrow keys used for navigation did
not work
in the naive sense.  Going to the handbook (on another system) did not help. 
Finally,
searching gmane.org for previous discussions about this problem in
freebsd-questions
revealed to me that the TAB key was necessary to properly navigate the
partition creation
section of the "Manual" choice (for experts!).  D'oh!  Did I feel stupid!

Please, please, change the documentation (Chapter 2.5 and related) in the
handbook at
least, and perhaps provide better help assistance in bsdinstall so that the use
of the
TAB key is mentioned.  Most people use the SPACE bar, the RETURN key, and the
arrow
keys, but the TAB key is not one of the first things that lept to my forebrain.

Warren Block has responded to me in an email.  What he says may be indicative:

   "Curses and dialog(1) are known for their somewhat confusing keyboard usage.
    I find the disk partitioning in bsdinstall confusing also, but have not had
    any inspiration on making it less confusing.  A bug report might or might
not
    help.  Devin Teske was working on improving bsdinstall, but I have not been
    following the progress."

I hope this bug report will result in clearer and better experiences for users
who
find using bsdinstall a bit confusing and less than intuitive.  Thank you.

-- 
You are receiving this mail because:
You are the assignee for the bug.