Re: dired-view-command-alist

[Miles Bader <miles@gnu.org>]

On Tue, Oct 05, 2004 at 02:31:21AM +0200, Reinhard Kotucha wrote:
> When more then one file is marked, it displays something like
> 
> ! on * [3 files]: {3 guesses} [ghostview]
> 
> in the minibuffer.  The string "[3 files]" can be omitted because at
> the same time the names of the marked files are displayed in a
> separate window.  Thus "! on *:" is sufficient.  

I disagree -- I find the "[3 files]" info useful.  Despite the filenames
being displayed in a separate, the presence of that string in the prompt is
more noticeable (maybe that sounds surprising, but when I give a command that
I know is going to prompt me, I tend to focus on the minibuffer, so a warning
there is much more likely to wake me up than a new window).

The presence of the actual number of files seems to have a similar effect:
because it's not a fixed string, it's somehow more noticeable than for
instance a simple "[multiple files]" would be.

So I'd say keep the "[<N> files]" stuff in the prompt.

-Miles
-- 
Freedom's just another word, for nothing left to lose   --Janis Joplin