From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Miles Bader Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: describe-mode's treatment of minor-modes is annoying Date: Tue, 4 May 2004 18:35:17 -0400 Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Message-ID: <20040504223517.GC10432@fencepost> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1083712527 24373 80.91.224.253 (4 May 2004 23:15:27 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 4 May 2004 23:15:27 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org, rms@gnu.org, Miles Bader Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Wed May 05 01:15:20 2004 Return-path: Original-Received: from quimby.gnus.org ([80.91.224.244]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1BL98C-0007wS-00 for ; Wed, 05 May 2004 01:15:20 +0200 Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by quimby.gnus.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1BL98B-0004Cw-00 for ; Wed, 05 May 2004 01:15:20 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.30) id 1BL96x-0006em-Ul for emacs-devel@quimby.gnus.org; Tue, 04 May 2004 19:14:03 -0400 Original-Received: from list by monty-python.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.30) id 1BL8et-00075c-F3 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 04 May 2004 18:45:03 -0400 Original-Received: from mail by monty-python.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.30) id 1BL8dN-0006Km-HJ for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 04 May 2004 18:44:00 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.164] (helo=fencepost.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.30) id 1BL8VX-0003co-Ub for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 04 May 2004 18:35:23 -0400 Original-Received: from miles by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.24) id 1BL8VR-0003pZ-KF; Tue, 04 May 2004 18:35:17 -0400 Original-To: Drew Adams Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.3.28i Blat: Foop X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.4 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:22770 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:22770 On Tue, May 04, 2004 at 01:58:35PM -0700, Drew Adams wrote: > Instead of using separate pages in the same buffer, why not use separate > incarnations of the *Help* buffer. `C-h m' would display just a one-liner > about each mode in *Help*, with a link for each mode (part or all of the > one-liner) to its detailed description: > > Major mode > SQL[oracle] mode: Major mode to edit SQL. > > Minor modes > Font-Lock minor mode (no indicator): Toggle Font Lock mode. > ... > > If there are no minor modes, just show the major-mode doc directly. I think that the major-mode doc should _always_ be displayed. In most cases I think that's what people are interested in, and _always_ having to follow a hyperlink to get at it would just be annoying (and I think in practice it would be _always_, too, as there's usually some random minor mode or another turned on). However, maybe it would be a good idea to separate the minor mode descriptions as you say, and just include a hyper link that described them (using the format I gave in my earlier message, with a single line at the beginning of the major-mode description). There could be a [back] button at the beginning of the minor-mode help to allow easily jumping back and forth. That way it wouldn't waste any time formatting all that minor mode stuff in the common case, and a user could even invoke `describe-minor-modes' directly if that's what he was really interested in. Hmmm, I like it... -Miles -- `Suppose Korea goes to the World Cup final against Japan and wins,' Moon said. `All the past could be forgiven.' [NYT]