From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Richard M. Stallman" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.bugs Subject: bug#1355: suggestion on the modeline Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:57:21 -0500 Message-ID: References: Reply-To: rms@gnu.org, 1355@emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15 X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1226891427 28644 80.91.229.12 (17 Nov 2008 03:10:27 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:10:27 +0000 (UTC) Cc: bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org, bug-submit-list@donarmstrong.com To: xah lee , 1355@emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com Original-X-From: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Nov 17 04:11:30 2008 Return-path: Envelope-to: geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1L1uWQ-0005JR-3R for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:11:30 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:57293 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1L1uVH-0008Jx-Pf for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:10:19 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1L1uVE-0008Ji-2N for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:10:16 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1L1uVB-0008JK-I4 for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:10:15 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=48227 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1L1uVB-0008JH-BR for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:10:13 -0500 Original-Received: from rzlab.ucr.edu ([138.23.92.77]:46062) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS-1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1L1uVB-00005E-3y for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:10:13 -0500 Original-Received: from rzlab.ucr.edu (rzlab.ucr.edu [127.0.0.1]) by rzlab.ucr.edu (8.13.8/8.13.8/Debian-3) with ESMTP id mAH3A83Y023472; Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:10:08 -0800 Original-Received: (from debbugs@localhost) by rzlab.ucr.edu (8.13.8/8.13.8/Submit) id mAH35736021900; Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:05:07 -0800 X-Loop: don@donarmstrong.com Resent-From: "Richard M. Stallman" Resent-To: bug-submit-list@donarmstrong.com Resent-CC: Emacs Bugs Resent-Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:05:07 +0000 Resent-Message-ID: Resent-Sender: don@donarmstrong.com X-Emacs-PR-Message: report 1355 X-Emacs-PR-Package: emacs X-Emacs-PR-Keywords: Original-Received: via spool by 1355-submit@emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com id=B1355.122689065019697 (code B ref 1355); Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:05:07 +0000 Original-Received: (at 1355) by emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com; 17 Nov 2008 02:57:30 +0000 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org (fencepost.gnu.org [140.186.70.10]) by rzlab.ucr.edu (8.13.8/8.13.8/Debian-3) with ESMTP id mAH2vRVv019688 for <1355@emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com>; Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:57:28 -0800 Original-Received: from rms by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.67) (envelope-from ) id 1L1uIj-0003nH-1c; Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:57:21 -0500 In-reply-to: (message from xah lee on Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:09:36 -0800) X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 3) Resent-Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:10:15 -0500 X-BeenThere: bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors" List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.bugs:22429 Archived-At: It'd better to instead say Read Only instead of %* , and show Modified instead of the ** . (don't show anything when it's -- ) If the mode line were infinitely long, I would agree with you. But there's no room for that. The coding system shown in mode line should be removed. Because, for vast majority of programers, he rarely deals with different file coding systems or coding system change, perhaps just few times a year. You're probably right. I would guess that only a few experts know what these mean, and it's only useful once in a while, not often enough to be worth mentioning in the mode line. However, having the unibyte/multibyte indicator in the mode line is useful. The cursor location percentage should by default not shown if emacs is running in GUI with scroll bar. Maybe so. When emacs is running in a terminal, the special indicator Top and Bot should be shown as percentage as usual, "Top" is equivalent to 00%, and showing "00%" instead would be just as good. However, "Bot" gives you other information: that the bottom of the buffer is on the screen. Minor mode should not be displayed in mode line. It's confusing. For one reason, it by default selectively display only some of the minor modes currently on, and the selective process is not something people who intuitively understands. For the other reason, Emacs's technical concept of Minor mode is somewhat confusing. Most minor modes in practice can be thought of as Preferences settings (Mac- speak) or Options (Windows-speak and Linux Desktops). The aim is to show those that are useful to see. Line number mode should be on by default. So that, the line number shows in the mode line. Isn't it enabled by default, nowadays?