Usability: Editing Bezier points while inking them

Hello,

The ability to Backspace while drawing Bezier curves is helpful, but rather minimal -- a bit like entering text on a commandline with only Backspace for corrections, and no libreadline support.

Is it an idea to add the following editing facilities?
* Arrow Left or Mousewheel down => switch to previous point for editing or start to create a new node at the beginning;
* Arrow Right or Mousewheel up => switch to next point for editing or start to create a new node at end;
* Arrow Up => select "forward/upward" direction support point for editing (possibly also "backward/downward" when connected) and attach it to the pointer device (which may move to that position if not absolutely positioned);
* Arrow Down => select "backward/downward" direction support point for editing (possibly also "forward/upward" when connected) and attach it to the pointer device (which may move to that position if not absolutely positioned);
* Del => remove the current node and shift focus to the next or, if no next one exists, start to create a new node at the end;
* Ins => insert a node before the currently edited one or do nothing if already creating a new endpoint.

These keys can be useful when editing nodes that are tightly packed together, and/or where support nodes are cluttered with the nodes' main points.

Perhaps the following technically-inspired ideas could be useful for drawing:
* Key "c" to connect and "d" to disconnect the forward/backward direction support points;
* Key "x" to set the edited direction(s) to 0 (so the other side is in full control);
* Copy and Paste of nodes, or series of nodes (perhaps marked with shift+arrow).

For instance:
* Selecting a node with the arrow keys and then typing "cx" would turn the point into a sharp corner;
* Selecting a node and typing "d<Up>" would select the outgoing direction, even if that direction is at the same coordinate as the node's main point;
* Selecting a node and pressing "<Left><Right>" would ensure that the node itself is selected and thus moved (not its direction support points).

Ideally, the Bezier entry and Points editing tools would seemlessly integrate. That would make entry of Bezier curves as simple as possible. Or is that a wild idea?

I hope this helps; InkScape is a marvelous tool, even without these pragmatic handles!

I am using InkScape 0.47.0-2+b1 on Debian Squeeze.

Thanks,

Rick van Rein