Dear Kate Development Team,
I would like to express my gratitude for your wonderful work on this editor. Kate has become an indispensable tool for many users, and its ever-evolving functionality continues to impress us with new features. However, as an active user, I have encountered one small yet significant issue in comparison with Notepad++.
Notepad++ utilizes the Scintilla component to implement advanced line operations, particularly the EXTEND commands (for example, SCI_LINEDOWNEXTEND, SCI_LINEUPEXTEND, SCI_CHARLEFTEXTEND, SCI_CHARRIGHTEXTEND, and their counterparts for rectangular selection). These commands allow for extending the selection as the cursor moves—equivalent to holding down the Shift key but with added flexibility and precision. They greatly simplify code and text editing by enabling you to:
- Quickly select blocks of text when moving by lines, characters, or words;
- Manage rectangular selection for handling tabular data or code columns;
- Reduce editing time with intuitive keyboard shortcuts.
I am convinced that integrating these features into Kate would not only boost productivity but also make the editor even more competitive for developers and professionals who need to manipulate text swiftly and efficiently. This enhancement would allow users to perform complex selection operations without unnecessary intermediary steps—a crucial benefit when working with large volumes of code.
I would be very grateful if you could consider implementing advanced line operations based on the Scintilla EXTEND commands. Such an improvement would significantly enhance the usability of Kate and make it even more attractive to a broad audience of professionals.
Thank you in advance for your attention to my suggestion and for your continued dedication to developing Kate!
Below I have highlighted the commands that need to be integrated into Kate:
Thanks,
Kind regards, C