Re: Generic dispatcher

[Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com>]

On Sun, 30 Jun 2013 18:46:36 -0400 Stefan Monnier <monnier@IRO.UMontreal.CA> wrote: 

SM> For epa/eww/mhe/... I think we should introduce a generic dispatcher.
SM> The way I see it, it would look like:

SM> - M-x mail RET runs one of the mail backends.  First time around it
SM>   prompts the user to choose a MUA, then stores the result in a Custom
SM>   var and doesn't prompt any more.  This would rely on
SM>   a mail-alternatives variable holding various MUAs such as Gnus, MH-E,
SM>   ... and third party packages can easily register themselves in this
SM>   list via their autoloads.  The user can reconsider his choice with C-u
SM>   M-x mail RET in which case she gets prompted again.

SM> - same for M-x irc RET
SM> - same for M-x encrypt RET
SM> - same for M-x browse RET
SM> - we could push this further (e.g. auctex vs tex-mode.el) but I'm not
SM>   sure it'd be such a great idea.

I think that's a good idea.  But (as I mentioned in the "Rename `eww' to
`web'" discussion) I think focusing on command names is the wrong
approach for usability.  These should be first-class commands in every
way, accessible from a top-level menu and from a convenient key
sequence.  Maybe new modeline icons that respond to clicks.  I just feel
that putting them under `M-x whatever' will not help usability.

Ted