Re: discoverability, better defaults and which-key in Emacs

[Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net>]

Dmitry Gutov <dmitry@gutov.dev> writes:

> On 03/02/2024 15:40, Philip Kaludercic wrote:
>> Po Lu<luangruo@yahoo.com>  writes:
>> 
>>> Jeremy Bryant<jb@jeremybryant.net>  writes:
>>>
>>>> Here is a suggestion - include which-key in core and potentially enable
>>>> by for new users.
>>>>
>>>> I understand it is in ELPA already.
>>>>
>>>> Author Justin has expressed openness to the idea in
>>>> https://github.com/justbur/emacs-which-key/issues/355
>>> I don't think enabling it by default is all that desirable, since its
>>> popups are far more intrusive than keystrokes are when echoed, but
>>> moving it to core is a decent idea.
>> I second this concern, it also promotes the inefficient practice of
>> inspecting keymaps by waiting for the idle timer to be triggered.
>
> What if instead of having the help on a timer, the timer would add a
> small hint in the echo about how to invoke help (i.e. press C-h)?

I think that would be a significant improvement if it is to be enabled
by default.  I don't have an issue with the presentation (though the
transient buffer is my preferred UX).

> The interface for displaying help could be which-key (it seems to look
> pretty enough), or just the current 'C-h' help, depending on the
> settings.
>
> The result, though, is that everybody learns to press 'C-h' when they
> want to explore what the current prefix map contains and not just wait
> for the timer.