From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Ken Manheimer" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Fwd: Prepend an indicator to the minibuffer prompt to show you can use completion Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 13:24:12 -0400 Message-ID: <2cd46e7f0608141024h2bed4a09m94233546df865dbf@mail.gmail.com> References: <2cd46e7f0608141023r3ecd44fdl48287a2aa3a33068@mail.gmail.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1155576294 13598 80.91.229.2 (14 Aug 2006 17:24:54 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:24:54 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Aug 14 19:24:52 2006 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1GCgBH-0006cc-VC for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 14 Aug 2006 19:24:52 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1GCgBH-00024v-BF for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 14 Aug 2006 13:24:51 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1GCgAl-0001wr-6q for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 14 Aug 2006 13:24:19 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1GCgAh-0001qy-8H for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 14 Aug 2006 13:24:17 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1GCgAg-0001qb-Jq for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 14 Aug 2006 13:24:14 -0400 Original-Received: from [64.233.182.187] (helo=nf-out-0910.google.com) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.52) id 1GCgGX-0008H0-54 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 14 Aug 2006 13:30:17 -0400 Original-Received: by nf-out-0910.google.com with SMTP id c2so31252nfe for ; Mon, 14 Aug 2006 10:24:12 -0700 (PDT) DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com; h=received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; b=oI/PS7wOAmA4h2OfOFpYMo6Me44s9uHQ9wq2V3RYTBY0NZosca15hKZu5k7Flig5vRxc1TES8oA4/BwmXNaHTugnRGQy3Fb7Wkj4bCv7isHyoygemDKeYffT9KZya4VYjXOMI5gr9STMyJQPxxemuv5M61oPqmAx+OjYW/BZqsY= Original-Received: by 10.78.139.5 with SMTP id m5mr3361108hud; Mon, 14 Aug 2006 10:24:12 -0700 (PDT) Original-Received: by 10.78.202.13 with HTTP; Mon, 14 Aug 2006 10:24:12 -0700 (PDT) Original-To: Emacs-Devel In-Reply-To: <2cd46e7f0608141023r3ecd44fdl48287a2aa3a33068@mail.gmail.com> Content-Disposition: inline X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:58386 Archived-At: [whoops - sent a separate copy directly to drew, meant to cc the list.] On 8/13/06, Drew Adams wrote: > Minor feature suggestion, for after the release: > > Prepend a one-character indicator, with a face that stands out, to the > minibuffer prompt, whenever completion is possible. > [...] > Knowing whether completion is available can change the way you interact with > Emacs. Not knowing it is available can mean that you miss out on a quick way > of inputting something. i like this idea. i have a few modifications. first, i would prefer to use a new indicator in the fringe, when the fringe is present - seems like this would be a nice use of that real estate, more suitable than precious minibuffer content space. the new cue would display with the fringe top-of-buffer signal, when people use that, but that's generally redundant in the minibuffer, since it always has a prompt on the first line, and usually contains one or just a few lines. second, you get many of the benefits you seek, and more, with something like icomplete. with icomplete, on the third character you get a concise indication of the completion prospects, not just that completion is available. a fringe indicator would not conflict, however, and would still be nice, though less necessary. > An additional subtlety can help a little more: I prepend a different > character (`=') and highlight it in a different color, whenever completion > requires a match. with icomplete you get different braces around the completion prospects depending on whether the match is required or optional. i think that having the option for an indicator in the fringe, whether or not you use something like icomplete, would be good. -- ken ken.manheimer@gmail.com http://myriadicity.net -- ken ken.manheimer@gmail.com http://myriadicity.net