Re: bug in frame-width

[Miles Bader <miles@gnu.org>]

On Thu, Aug 12, 2004 at 11:36:10AM -0400, Stefan Monnier wrote:
> >> The general rule of thumb in X11 is that an application should only change
> >> its window's position and size if the user explicitly asks for it.
> > I would not say that it is a rule of thumb.
> 
> True, it's more of a convention about what a good UI should do.

The term "good UI" is so vague as to be meaningless -- there are many
different sorts of UIs, each of which has its particular constraints; xterm
is very different from say, a typical icon-laden file-browser window.

It's probably reasonable to say "don't resize the window without a good
reason" though.  In xterm's case, there _is_ a very good reason, and emacs is
arguably enough like xterm in this respect that it should follow in many
cases.

The key thing about xterm (and perhaps emacs) is that the number of colums is
usually important, and should remain constant when the fontsize changes, and
regardless of decorations being added to the sides.  In emacs's case, it
could be said that the number of _rows_ is less important, but I suppose it's
probably too confusing to have different rules for X and Y dimensions.

[Yeah I know, there are people like you who use 500-column wide emacs
windows, and probably don't care about the numberm of columns remaining
constant -- but I'd say that's a vanishingly small proportion of the
user-base; most people seem to use 80 column windows.]

I perfectly agree that the resizing the frame is quite ugly and annoying in
some cases, but regardless, it's important that certain constraints like
number of columns are maintained.

-Miles
-- 
o The existentialist, not having a pillow, goes everywhere with the book by
  Sullivan, _I am going to spit on your graves_.