Re: Infrastructural complexity.

[Juri Linkov <juri@jurta.org>]

> This is more idle brainstorming than anything else:
>
> Some quick thoughts about how I think about this design
> space:
>
> 1) A useful concept is that toolbars, tab bars, and menu
> bars are all "virtual input devices".   Their main function
> is to give users a way to generate a distinct class of input
> event types.   This concept is reflected in the existing
> support, of course, but it's useful to state it explicitly.
> What kinds of "virtual input device" we have is necessarily
> kind of ad hoc but that's ok because having just a few, general
> purpose ad hoc virtual input devices goes a long way in terms
> of utility.

One of the main questions is where and how to attach these
virtual input devices.  It is still unclear how to attach
a tab bar (a useful virtual input device still unsupported
by Emacs unlike tool bars and menu bars) to the Emacs frame.
Last year Jan looked how to do this in GTK and concluded
this is not straightforward.  Maybe newer GTK versions provide
an easier way.

> 2) We don't have to slavishly follow Eclipse or another
> program to determine our list of virtual input devices.
> When we pick virtual input device types and their behavior,
> whenever possible, virtual input devices that make some sense
> on plain-text smart terminals are extra nifty to have.

We could implement tab bars on plain-text terminals exactly as
a menu bar line is implemented at the top on the terminal window.

> Given Emacs' huge command set, I'd really like to see a
> virtual input device that resembled, say, the command menu
> system of old PC programs like Lotus whatsit or any of the
> spreadsheet programs.   This also resembles the command
> menu interfaces of some HP calculators, as I recall.  Basically,
> a narrow area for listing a thin menu of commands but with a 
> "tree structure" so you can dig down to sub-commands or pop 
> back up to parent menus.   With a "home" or "clear" command for
> getting back to the root of the command tree.

Yes, I remember that in Lotus 1-2-3 the slash key activated
a keyboard-driven menu.  Since in Emacs keymaps and menus
have the same structure it is easy to do the same in Emacs.

-- 
Juri Linkov
http://www.jurta.org/emacs/