RE: When do you prefer frames instead of windows?

[Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com>]

> The usefulness of frames is evident for buffers that update their
> content according to the current buffer (like Speedbar and ECB).
> Besides this kind of use, when do you prefer frames instead of
> windows?

Personally, almost always.  A window-manager window (Emacs frame)
is more flexible than an Emacs window - more features/possibilities.

Emacs windows were conceived long, long ago - before window
managers were supported/recognized by Emacs and even, for the
most part, before they existed.  They are vestigial organs that
have some limited uses but are generally not the best way to
interact, IMO.

I generally don't like apps to try to lock everything they do into
a single window-mgr window (frame) and provide their own internal
windows within that frame.  That applies to Emacs also.  Whenever
possible/practical, I free such internal windows to become normal
window-mgr windows.  With Emacs this is even better, as you can
manipulate frames using the keyboard, not just the mouse.

However, out of the box, support for using Emacs frames is pretty
primitive.  So I jump through a bunch of configuration hooks to
be able to use them easily (including keyboard manipulation).

Just one (minority) opinion.

I would ask an opposite question: IF you could use Emacs frames
as easily as you can use Emacs windows, in what scenarios would
you prefer using Emacs windows, and why?