[OSM-newbies] Splitting a way into two ways

[Rick Collins]

At 01:24 PM 10/10/2007, you wrote:

>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Rick Collins" <gnuarm.2006 at arius.com>
>To: <newbies at openstreetmap.org>
>Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 5:35 PM
>Subject: [OSM-newbies] Splitting a way into two ways
>
>
> >I see in the Comparison of editors in the wiki that JOSM has the
> > "ability to split ways".  But I can't find how to do that.  When I
> > delete a node within a way, it just connects the two nodes around it
> > (in opposition to what it says in the JOSM help - "If a node is
> > deleted, the node and all ways and areas the node is part of are
> > deleted as well.") to restore the way as a single way.
>
>I think you may have misread the JOSM help file!  The sentence in which you
>refer "If a node is  deleted......." is what happens when CTRL and delete
>are pressed.  I've re-read it and I'm not sure how the help file could be
>clearer.

Ok, now I get it.  It was not clear to me that it is intended to have 
multiple actions depending on modifying buttons such as cntl.  That 
seems obvious now that you pointed it out.  But it was not so obvious 
when I was trying to figure out a different issue (how to split a way).

I will say that the part about "releasing" the button is not so 
clear.  Is that intended to be different from holding cntl while 
"pressing" the button?  Is the intent to say that it only matters if 
the cntl button is pressed while the mouse button is being 
released?  I guess I just never expected to be informed of this, so 
it struck me as perhaps not what you intended to say.

I am not trying to be rude or facetious.  When you are talking about 
multiple buttons and you say "the button", it could be more clear to 
say "the mouse button", or is this not what is meant?

I was also confused by "If the user did not press Ctrl and the object 
has any references, the user is informed and nothing is 
deleted."  This seems to be saying that a node as part of a way will 
not be deleted without holding down the cntl key and deleting the 
entire way.  Yet, I know this is not accurate.  Without the cntl key, 
deleting a node just removes it from the way.

Finally, "If the user enters the mapmode and any object is selected, 
all selected objects that can be deleted will." is not all that 
clear.  As a new user I don't actually *know* what "the mapmode" 
means.  If you mean the delete mapmode, perhaps you could say that?

Am I being dense about this???