bug#64520: Cursor type, fill-column, and ruler numbering

bug#64520: Cursor type, fill-column, and ruler numbering

[uzibalqa via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors]

I have set fill-column to 72.

When I write in the buffer, I get a change in the background colour
upon reaching 72 when looking at the ruler.  There is a shift of 1
in the ruler because the ruler starts at 0.

But when using a block cursor, it looks like one is at column 0, rather
than column 1.  Could the ruler have the ability to be changed so that 
it starts at 1 ?  Because one can use either a line or a block for the 
cursor, there can be a different interpretation about column numbers.

bug#64520: Cursor type, fill-column, and ruler numbering

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Fri, 07 Jul 2023 19:04:42 +0000
> From:  uzibalqa via "Bug reports for GNU Emacs,
>  the Swiss army knife of text editors" <bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
> 
> I have set fill-column to 72.
> 
> When I write in the buffer, I get a change in the background colour
> upon reaching 72 when looking at the ruler.  There is a shift of 1
> in the ruler because the ruler starts at 0.
> 
> But when using a block cursor, it looks like one is at column 0, rather
> than column 1.  Could the ruler have the ability to be changed so that 
> it starts at 1 ?  Because one can use either a line or a block for the 
> cursor, there can be a different interpretation about column numbers.

The ruler shows columns, so it starts with zero.  If it would start
from 1, it would be inconsistent and confusing.  I see no reason to
make such not useful changes in Emacs.

bug#64520: Cursor type, fill-column, and ruler numbering

[uzibalqa via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors]

------- Original Message -------
On Saturday, July 8th, 2023 at 7:15 AM, Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> wrote:


> > Date: Fri, 07 Jul 2023 19:04:42 +0000
> > From: uzibalqa via "Bug reports for GNU Emacs,
> > the Swiss army knife of text editors" bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> > 
> > I have set fill-column to 72.
> > 
> > When I write in the buffer, I get a change in the background colour
> > upon reaching 72 when looking at the ruler. There is a shift of 1
> > in the ruler because the ruler starts at 0.
> > 
> > But when using a block cursor, it looks like one is at column 0, rather
> > than column 1. Could the ruler have the ability to be changed so that
> > it starts at 1 ? Because one can use either a line or a block for the
> > cursor, there can be a different interpretation about column numbers.
> 
> 
> The ruler shows columns, so it starts with zero. If it would start
> from 1, it would be inconsistent and confusing. I see no reason to
> make such not useful changes in Emacs.

It is confusing if the cursor is a blinking block and the column ruler is 
showing a value 'N'.  The reason is that the number fills the region of
a cursor block, and one thinks that the cursor block is at column N.

Could there be something else based on numbering columns rather than as a ruler
that starts from 0.  Could be a feature of ruler to specify column numbers instead.