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A term I hear now and then is a "CUA" text editor.

What is a CUA editor?

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Quick search on google: texteditors.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?LinuxEditorFamily – Aaron Jul 23 '09 at 0:01
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According to Wikipedia, CUA is...

Common User Access (CUA) is a standard for user interfaces to operating systems and computer programs. It was developed by IBM and first published in 1987 as part of their Systems Application Architecture. Used originally in the OS/MVS, VM/CMS, OS/400, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows operating systems, parts of the CUA standard are now implemented in programs for other operating systems, including variants of Unix. It is also used by Java AWT and Swing.

In other words, a set of a standards/guidelines for interactive applications to follow.

To more specifically answer the question, a CUA editor would then simply be a text-editor which adheres to the standards/guidelines set by the CUA.

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I would argue with the "GUI" qualification in your answer. OS/MVS, VM/CMS, and OS/400 do not have GUIs, for example. – Richard Hoskins Jul 23 '09 at 0:23
Agreed, GUI isn't exactly the appropriate term. An application with a interface, where an interface is a keyboard and/or mouse? Applications with visual interfaces? – Thor K.H Jul 23 '09 at 0:29
Interactive application? In other words, a set of a standards/guidelines for interactive applications. – Richard Hoskins Jul 23 '09 at 0:57
I disagree. OS/MVS and the rest do have a GUI, it's just not a windowing graphical system. They aren't command-line. It's the equivalent of a curses program under *nix. – CarlF Oct 27 '09 at 19:56
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Regardless of the formal definition of CUA, the term is colloquially used to refer to a text editor that uses keybindings that are common on Windows and Mac platforms. For example:

  • Ctrl-Z: undo
  • Ctrl-C: copy
  • Ctrl-X: cut
  • Ctrl-V: paste
  • Ctrl-S: save
  • F1: help
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up vote 2 down vote

Looks like it's Common User Access, if that's the right CUA.

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