Re: [rms@gnu.org: Re: mouse cannot be used in *grep* buffer if font-lock is turned off]

[David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org>]

dapfy@t-online.de (Daniel Pfeiffer) writes:

> This sounds like a step further: font-lock without fonts, i.e. a
> property lock mode.  Actually I can't for the life of me imagine why
> anybody would not want font-locking, even vi can do it nowadays.  It
> adds so much legibility, I feel it should be on by default.

It _removes_ legibility since it decreases the already low contrast
(as compared to paper) of computer screens further.  I don't work with
font lock at all and find it very distracting in addition to
unreadable.

That being said, I second that it should be on by default.  I'll turn
it off first thing, but it is the kind of thing beginners expect.
However, we would need a command line option to turn it off, too, or
people with disabilities or screen readers might be unable to even
handle turning off the default fontification via customize.

> My oldish 500MHz P3 can handle it easily and I'm pretty sure I used
> without great penalty way back on my 100MHz box.

How often do you edit 1MB text files with complex patterns?  That is
not unusual if you are preparing a book.

> An easy workaround for those who want it, is to customize the faces
> to default.

But there is no sense in forcing a heavy performance penalty if you
don't even see a thing.

-- 
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum