Re: etc/TODO:Horizontal scrollbar

[storm@cua.dk (Kim F. Storm)]

Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:

>     What about splitting the existing modeline into two parts:  
> 	    a scroll-bar part with a width equal to, say, 10 characters,
> 	    a text part corresponding to the current mode line.
> 
> The mode line is already short of space.  I don't think this
> is a very useful approach.  It is better to focus on the idea
> of a plain old scroll-bar for horizontal scrolling.

Considering that you can click on the fringe-arrows of a truncated
line to scroll the window left and right, the only real benefit you
get from the vertical scroll bar is the position of the thumb (besides
"common look-and-feel").

I hate wasting real estate on a horizontal scroll bar in every
window....  A _very tiny_ scroll bar in the mode line would do it for
me, as the only really interesting thing to know is the relative
scrolling position that can be deduced from the position and size of
the thumb.

BTW, should the size of the thumb reflect the relative scrolling in
the lines currently visible (I think so), or the entire file (probably
too expensive to compute I think).

I'd like to suggest some other methods to reduce the mode line
clutter.  E.g.

* Provide a `split-window-mode-line-format' that could leave out some
lesser used information (e.g. time of day) in vertically split
windows.

* Use a condensed font in the mode-line.

* Put selected information in the echo area rather than the mode line,
  e.g. line and column, minor modes, date/time, load, mail ...

-- 
Kim F. Storm <storm@cua.dk> http://www.cua.dk