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: When do you prefer frames instead of windows? Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 09:20:04 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1416849663 23977 80.91.229.3 (24 Nov 2014 17:21:03 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 17:21:03 +0000 (UTC) To: Raffaele Ricciardi , help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Nov 24 18:20:56 2014 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1XsxJn-0005AS-OI for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Mon, 24 Nov 2014 18:20:55 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:53745 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1XsxJn-0007Hb-9q for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Mon, 24 Nov 2014 12:20:55 -0500 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:39879) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1XsxJF-00072d-NT for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Mon, 24 Nov 2014 12:20:30 -0500 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1XsxJ7-0000ET-0w for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Mon, 24 Nov 2014 12:20:21 -0500 Original-Received: from aserp1040.oracle.com ([141.146.126.69]:22774) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1XsxJ6-0000D5-RK for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Mon, 24 Nov 2014 12:20:12 -0500 Original-Received: from acsinet22.oracle.com (acsinet22.oracle.com [141.146.126.238]) by aserp1040.oracle.com (Sentrion-MTA-4.3.2/Sentrion-MTA-4.3.2) with ESMTP id sAOHK6jv025981 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=OK); Mon, 24 Nov 2014 17:20:07 GMT Original-Received: from userz7021.oracle.com (userz7021.oracle.com [156.151.31.85]) by acsinet22.oracle.com (8.14.4+Sun/8.14.4) with ESMTP id sAOHK5Nv010138 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=FAIL); Mon, 24 Nov 2014 17:20:06 GMT Original-Received: from abhmp0008.oracle.com (abhmp0008.oracle.com [141.146.116.14]) by userz7021.oracle.com (8.14.4+Sun/8.14.4) with ESMTP id sAOHK5ah007065; Mon, 24 Nov 2014 17:20:05 GMT In-Reply-To: X-Priority: 3 X-Mailer: Oracle Beehive Extensions for Outlook 2.0.1.8.2 (807160) [OL 12.0.6691.5000 (x86)] X-Source-IP: acsinet22.oracle.com [141.146.126.238] X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.4.x-2.6.x [generic] X-Received-From: 141.146.126.69 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:101131 Archived-At: > 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?