From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Drew Adams" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: RE: Making Emacs more newbie friendly Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 10:30:08 -0800 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1111430502 18850 80.91.229.2 (21 Mar 2005 18:41:42 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 18:41:42 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Mar 21 19:41:41 2005 Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1DDRpf-0005dy-Oy for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Mon, 21 Mar 2005 19:40:56 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1DDS6o-0000HK-Lw for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Mon, 21 Mar 2005 13:58:38 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1DDS5F-00085B-Im for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Mon, 21 Mar 2005 13:57:01 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1DDS5D-00083I-8i for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Mon, 21 Mar 2005 13:57:00 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1DDS5C-00081q-UE for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Mon, 21 Mar 2005 13:56:58 -0500 Original-Received: from [148.87.122.33] (helo=rgminet04.oracle.com) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (TLSv1:DES-CBC3-SHA:168) (Exim 4.34) id 1DDRmP-0000K2-RR for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Mon, 21 Mar 2005 13:37:34 -0500 Original-Received: from rgminet04.oracle.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by rgminet04.oracle.com (Switch-3.1.6/Switch-3.1.6) with ESMTP id j2LIbRaA001392 for ; Mon, 21 Mar 2005 13:37:27 -0500 Original-Received: from rgmsgw301.us.oracle.com (rgmsgw301.us.oracle.com [138.1.186.50]) by rgminet04.oracle.com (Switch-3.1.6/Switch-3.1.6) with ESMTP id j2LIUAVO026840 for ; Mon, 21 Mar 2005 13:32:47 -0500 Original-Received: from rgmsgw301.us.oracle.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by rgmsgw301.us.oracle.com (Switch-3.1.4/Switch-3.1.0) with ESMTP id j2LIU9dE022405 for ; Mon, 21 Mar 2005 11:30:09 -0700 Original-Received: from dradamslap (dradams-lap.us.oracle.com [130.35.177.126]) by rgmsgw301.us.oracle.com (Switch-3.1.4/Switch-3.1.0) with SMTP id j2LIU9Wg022395 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5 bits=128 verify=NO) for ; Mon, 21 Mar 2005 11:30:09 -0700 Original-To: X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.6604 (9.0.2911.0) In-Reply-To: Importance: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1441 X-Brightmail-Tracker: AAAAAQAAAAI= X-Whitelist: TRUE X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org X-MailScanner-To: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:25077 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.help:25077 One big advantage for me of Emacs over IDE editors is the way it lays out its windows. It is very useful when programming to have two windows side by side, or above and below each other. The only way to do this in an IDE editor is to manually resize all your windows to fit (then you still have too much space wasted for extra title and status bars) or to set it to tiled (and have all windows that you have open tiled). I don't want to get in the middle of this making-Emacs-friendly thread. This is only to let you know that if you do prefer to use window-manager windows - that is, what Emacs calls frames - for everything, then you can still easily tile your buffers. You do not need to resize them manually. See my library `frame-cmds.el' (http://www.emacswiki.org/elisp/frame-cmds.el) for commands `tile-frames-horizontally' and `tile-frames-vertically'. These commands have an option (`C-u') for tiling only two frames that you designate; otherwise, they tile only the visible (non-iconified) frames. So you do have control over what gets tiled. Another convenience is being able to resize a frame incrementally, using the keyboard (`C-M-' arrow keys) instead of the mouse. The commands for these key bindings are in my library `fit-frame.el': http://www.emacswiki.org/elisp/fit-frame.el. Personally, I use Emacs frames, not Emacs windows, for everything. I use `ediff' to compare buffers in separate frames (that I have tiled horizontally or vertically). I also have a separate standalone frame for the minibuffer (the other frames have no minibuffer area) - this stretches along the entire width of my display, at the bottom. I don't use the toolbar, so I don't waste space with that (actually, I use my popup toolbar: http://www.emacswiki.org/elisp/tool-bar-plus.el). Yes, I do lose the menu space for each frame - you can of course get rid of that too, if you like. For instance, you might decide to use a standalone "menu" frame. - Drew P.S. There is a problem with the above frame-cmds.el link today. I've reported the problem to the EmacsWiki maintainer, so I expect it will be fixed soon. You can get to the same file today with this link instead: http://www.emacswiki.org/elisp/frame-cmds.el.gz.