"but even then I find that a top google search for JOE is "How do you save and exit?" People can't seem to see the "Hit ^K H for help" in the top-right corner"
I would see that as a very strong hint that the time when Wordstar keybindings made sense in an editor with "no learning curve at all" has passed.
I think you should very seriously consider either having control-S for save or dropping the idea to compete with editors without a learning curve. If you want to keep aiming at the low learning curve, Google tells me that key bindings are highly configurable, so what's wrong with shipping with ones beginning users will be familiar with?
If you want to keep Wordstar bindings by default, I think your new message can be improved.
I fear that people who read "Use Ctrl-K X to save/exit" may think that Ctrl-K X will give them the option to save changes, and then exit. That can put them up for a huge disappointment the first time they want to exit without saving.
IMO, the use of "abort" for "exit without saving" doesn't help there, either. For me, "abort" signals abnormal termination, but there is nothing wrong with exiting without saving.
I doubt you can get any significant improvement that way, but unless I am miscounting
Save file and Exit=Ctrl-K X Exit Without Saving=Ctrl-C Help=Ctrl-K H
fits in that space. I doubt it will help much because people will have forgotten the key combinations seconds after typing the first character, and even if they do remember them, they will not become as engrained as the keystrokes they know work in other programs.
I am pessimistic because I see three problems with Control-K X for 'normal' users:
- they aren't used to the tiny mode that Control-X introduces (it wouldn't even surprise me if interviewing a few 'normal users' would show that they do not know what "Ctrl-K X" means)
- most other applications separate the 'save' command from the 'exit' command (web and phone apps are exceptions, but they don't use explicit save at all)
- it's not control-S (unfair? Maybe, but I would call it realistic)
I doubt reminding them "hey, this program is different" at startup will help much for that.
Disclaimer: I'm not a professional in this field and I am wildly guessing at the target audience for a simple text editor.
I would see that as a very strong hint that the time when Wordstar keybindings made sense in an editor with "no learning curve at all" has passed.
I think you should very seriously consider either having control-S for save or dropping the idea to compete with editors without a learning curve. If you want to keep aiming at the low learning curve, Google tells me that key bindings are highly configurable, so what's wrong with shipping with ones beginning users will be familiar with?
If you want to keep Wordstar bindings by default, I think your new message can be improved.
I fear that people who read "Use Ctrl-K X to save/exit" may think that Ctrl-K X will give them the option to save changes, and then exit. That can put them up for a huge disappointment the first time they want to exit without saving.
IMO, the use of "abort" for "exit without saving" doesn't help there, either. For me, "abort" signals abnormal termination, but there is nothing wrong with exiting without saving.