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From: "Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com>
To: "'emacs-devel'" <emacs-devel@gnu.org>
Subject: File > Close and File > Save
Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:42:23 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <003b01c88d37$2963c060$0600a8c0@us.oracle.com> (raw)

1. The File > Close menu item is unclear. In fact, this is essentially
kill-buffer, but you would never guess that. And there is no key binding shown.
Menus are one way to learn what commands are available and what keys they are
bound to. This item should teach C-x k.

The menu item should be renamed and C-x k should be put next to the item. What
name should be used? Well, how about `Kill Buffer'? If users can handle names
such as Print Buffer (an item in the same menu), then they ought to be able to
handle `Kill Buffer'. 

`Close' is often used for a dialog box or an application, and in the File menu,
in particular, it can be confusing (`Close' vs `Exit Emacs'), if not
meaningless.

`Close Buffer' would be clearer, but AFAICT this is the only place in Emacs,
including all of the doc, where we speak of closing, not killing, a buffer. At
the very least, if we do use `Close Buffer', the doc should call out the synonym
somewhere.

The lack of a key reminder here, BTW, is held up in the following essay (which
is admittedly misleading and inaccurate in some ways) as a good example of
Emacs's UI problems: http://www.surfaceeffect.com/thoughts/emacs. Here's what it
says about this:

 "On the Files menu there is an entry for killing the current buffer
 (there's a buffer menu too, so why is this entry not on that?).
 However, I have never seen, on any version of emacs I've ever used,
 that entry have its key-binding displayed. The Key binding is "C-x k",
 but you'd never know."


2. In a related vein, we have item `Revert Buffer', but just `Save' and `Save
As'. Every other item on the File menu has a verb and object. How about `Save
Buffer' and `Save Buffer As', for consistency and clarity?





             reply	other threads:[~2008-03-23 22:42 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 7+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2008-03-23 22:42 Drew Adams [this message]
2008-03-24  0:13 ` File > Close and File > Save Jason Rumney
2008-03-24  4:16 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-03-24  5:57   ` Drew Adams
2008-03-24 10:57     ` Jason Rumney
2008-03-24 16:50       ` David Reitter
2008-03-24 16:59         ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)

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