> As for Command, yes, it should be for actions _to_ my terminal. But for GUI apps they go to that app,
I don't see a way to split the difference between ⌘N for a new terminal window and ⌘N for a new application window. It has to do one of those things because it can't to two, and speaking personally, I want it to open the new terminal window. It's a tradeoff.
CSIu mode is new, it's pretty well supported though.
> And of course proper usability of the terminal typically requires binding Alt to Meta, but doing that means losing the ability to type non-ASCII chars on macOS. This is another thing that GUIs don't have to worry about.
This doesn't happen to be true though, right Option can be the compose key and left Option can be Meta/Alt aka prepend-with-Escape. I also use Karabiner to set pressing left Alt to send Escape for even more faithful terminal fidelity, but that's optional. Having both Compose and Alt as right and left Option is perfectly straightforward, and I suggest it, because much like with Command, it does have to do one or the other, but this time, we have two keys.
It's probably possible to split the left and right command keys but again, personally, I don't want the terminal app to see my command keys and am comfortable with the mere six(!) combinations of modifier + key I can send without it.
> I don't see a way to split the difference between ⌘N for a new terminal window and ⌘N for a new application window. It has to do one of those things because it can't to two, and speaking personally, I want it to open the new terminal window. It's a tradeoff.
Right. I'm not saying CLI tools should be able to get command-keys, I'm saying using a TUI instead of a GUI means you cannot use command-keys. It's a notable limitation inherent to TUIs, and it's one I'm talking about since the context here is "the terminal is the most portable GUI platform available".
> Having both Compose and Alt as right and left Option is perfectly straightforward, and I suggest it, because much like with Command, it does have to do one or the other, but this time, we have two keys.
I like that this is an option in some terminal emulators. Unfortunately it's not an option in Terminal.app, and for me personally I'm using right-option for something else system-wide (though I may have chosen differently if Terminal.app offered this).
I don't see a way to split the difference between ⌘N for a new terminal window and ⌘N for a new application window. It has to do one of those things because it can't to two, and speaking personally, I want it to open the new terminal window. It's a tradeoff.
CSIu mode is new, it's pretty well supported though.
> And of course proper usability of the terminal typically requires binding Alt to Meta, but doing that means losing the ability to type non-ASCII chars on macOS. This is another thing that GUIs don't have to worry about.
This doesn't happen to be true though, right Option can be the compose key and left Option can be Meta/Alt aka prepend-with-Escape. I also use Karabiner to set pressing left Alt to send Escape for even more faithful terminal fidelity, but that's optional. Having both Compose and Alt as right and left Option is perfectly straightforward, and I suggest it, because much like with Command, it does have to do one or the other, but this time, we have two keys.
It's probably possible to split the left and right command keys but again, personally, I don't want the terminal app to see my command keys and am comfortable with the mere six(!) combinations of modifier + key I can send without it.