RE: Rename `mini-' options

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

> >> This is the first time I encounter something called "mini-windows",
> >> but it seems to me, after having read the documentation for the
> >> variable, that the minibuffer is an instance of them? Are there any
> >> other mini-windows or is this just very poorly documented?
> >
> > Just poorly named and poorly documented. What is meant is 
> > the (active) minibuffer window.
> >
> > There can be more than one minibuffer window, but only one 
> > is active at any time.
> 
> The mini-window is the window that holds the minibuffer,

Nice try ;-). But you're simply making that up.

> but also the echo area.  Try evaluating this with `eval-region':
> (let (resize-mini-windows)
>   (message (make-string 100 100))
>   (sit-for 1))

Yes, of course. The minibuffer and the echo area share the same screen real
estate. But it's not a window - "window" means something specific in Emacs.

Is there a need for some new name to identify that screen area? Maybe, maybe
not. In any case, "mini-window" is not, today, such an identifier. 

There ain't no such definition. Try `M-x apropos mini-'. Search the Emacs manual
for `mini-'. Search the Elisp manual. You will find only these poorly named
variables. Search the manuals and doc strings for "mini window" - nada. 

If we want to discuss whether there should be a name for this common area, we
can. If we finally decide that there should be, then we can discuss what that
name should be. It certainly should not have "window" in it, as that is
misleading. There is no window that corresponds to the echo area: its messages
are not displayed in a window.

Most importantly, to come back to the point: Users will not easily find these
particular options - whether they look for `minibuffer' or `echo-area'.