From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Eli Zaretskii Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Customizing the mode line Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:18:31 +0200 Message-ID: <83skd1dta0.fsf@gnu.org> Reply-To: Eli Zaretskii NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1256901605 432 80.91.229.12 (30 Oct 2009 11:20:05 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:20:05 +0000 (UTC) To: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Fri Oct 30 12:19:58 2009 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1N3pWO-0004eH-E8 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:19:56 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:45188 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1N3pWN-0001b3-Qh for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:19:55 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1N3pW8-0001Vj-F5 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:19:40 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1N3pW3-0001SJ-PJ for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:19:39 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=45020 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1N3pW3-0001SC-Cf for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:19:35 -0400 Original-Received: from mtaout23.012.net.il ([80.179.55.175]:42205) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1N3pW3-0002V3-0W for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:19:35 -0400 Original-Received: from conversion-daemon.a-mtaout23.012.net.il by a-mtaout23.012.net.il (HyperSendmail v2007.08) id <0KSB00J00QJABW00@a-mtaout23.012.net.il> for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:18:23 +0200 (IST) Original-Received: from HOME-C4E4A596F7 ([77.127.186.42]) by a-mtaout23.012.net.il (HyperSendmail v2007.08) with ESMTPA id <0KSB00J1FREMRG10@a-mtaout23.012.net.il> for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:18:23 +0200 (IST) X-012-Sender: halo1@inter.net.il X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: Solaris 10 (beta) 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:116457 Archived-At: Do we have some convenient UI for customizing the mode line? The user manual doesn't mention any. I frequently find myself in a situation where the information that's important to me is pushed beyond the right edge of the mode line, and is thus invisible. Annoyingly, a large part of the real estate of the mode line is taken by information that is much less important, like the percentage of the file before the window start and the list of minor modes in effect. The latter, for example, is quite static in any given buffer, so once you saw it for the first time, there's no need to continue showing it in such a central place. However, even in a C buffer, the mode shown is "C/l Abbrev", which is quite long. And when I read mail, I see something like "RMAIL XXXX/YYYY answered, deleted"; when replying to mail it's "Mail Fly Abbrev Fill", etc. These are very long strings that I don't need to see all the time, because they almost never change. But they steal too much precious space. By contrast, dynamic information such as the current time, the system load, the battery condition, the mail indicator, the current function (when in which-func-mode), etc. -- these are banished off the edge of the mode line, and cannot be consulted. This effectively makes these features unavailable, unless one is willing to make her frames unreasonably wide or even full-screen. I consider this a bad misfeature. What's more, modifying what's in the mode line is not an easy task (unless I'm missing something): it boils down to reading bindings.el and manually setting various parts of standard-mode-line-* variables to remove or rearrange what is shown. Can we make the mode line display more ergonomic, or at least more customizable? Should I file a "wish-list" bug for this?