From: Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>
To: Paul R <paul.r.ml@gmail.com>
Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
Subject: Re: emacs mode line suggestions
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:48:17 +0000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20081118134817.GD2491@muc.de> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <87y6zhsc7l.fsf@gmail.com>
Hi, Paul
On Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 08:52:14AM +0100, Paul R wrote:
> Hello Alan,
> Alan> There are lots of ways of switching buffers, none objectively the
> Alan> best. You've assumed the axiom of choice in your paragraph above;
> Alan> namely that there is some way of choosing a "best" way for each of
> Alan> the uncountably infinite options in Emacs. You give yourself away
> Alan> with the words "something like". ;-)
> I used this words because any of them would do better than the current
> behaviour. This of course reflect mainly my opinion, but because I have
> some experience at teaching emacs to beginners, I can tell you it is a
> general feeling among them.
The remedy is in your own hands - set up one of these ways (_YOU_ have to
chose it :-) in the .emacsen of the people you teach. But tell them
you've done so, so that those it irritates can switch to a more pleasant
(for them) way.
My own way is to have the buffers I'm currently looking at each in its
own frame (more or less), and I use F1, F2, ...., F11 to switch to the
corresponding frame. Other than that, C-x b, C-x 5 b, and occasionally
C-x 4 b do me just fine. Not everybody would like that, though!
> Of course, you can argue that most student have no critisism and just
> like what the teacher like. That would be a valid point, but I
> honnestly have the feeling that it helps them a lot.
If you were to set up some "better" buffer switching scheme, it would
give you a good opportunity to emphasise to the beginner(s) that
everybody is different (<off-stage>: "I'm not!" ;-) and each user needs
to set up her Emacs to be efficient for _her_.
> I just noticed again than one can switch buffers from the menu. This is
> also an intuitive behaviour for beginners, indeed, but I would prefer
> to give them the right tools to use emacs more easily from the
> keyboard.
C-x b, together with the use of alphanumeric keys, <tab>, <PageUp>, M-n
and M-p? That doesn't seem all that awkward to me, certainly compared
with the way other bits of software do it. Could it be you haven't
sussed out all the flexibility of C-x b, or am I missing something
important?
> Regards,
> Paul
--
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2008-11-18 13:48 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 39+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
[not found] <mailman.215.1226562978.26697.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-11-14 23:18 ` emacs mode line suggestions Xah
2008-11-15 1:02 ` xahlee
2008-11-15 9:23 ` Eli Zaretskii
[not found] ` <mailman.423.1226741023.26697.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-11-16 1:54 ` Xah
2008-11-16 18:12 ` Ian Eure
2008-11-18 9:39 ` Kevin Rodgers
2008-11-18 23:25 ` Xavier Maillard
2008-11-16 21:40 ` Eli Zaretskii
[not found] ` <mailman.518.1226859137.26697.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-11-16 18:20 ` Richard Riley
2008-11-16 23:12 ` Ian Eure
2008-11-17 8:37 ` Paul R
2008-11-17 15:45 ` Drew Adams
[not found] ` <mailman.604.1226937124.26697.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-11-17 16:11 ` Richard Riley
2008-11-17 18:53 ` Drew Adams
2008-11-17 19:10 ` Richard Riley
2008-11-17 19:57 ` Drew Adams
2008-11-17 20:53 ` Eli Zaretskii
[not found] ` <mailman.621.1226951870.26697.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-11-17 21:42 ` Richard Riley
2008-11-18 0:55 ` Drew Adams
[not found] ` <mailman.641.1226969742.26697.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-11-18 1:08 ` Richard Riley
2008-11-18 2:55 ` Drew Adams
2008-11-17 23:37 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-11-18 7:52 ` Paul R
2008-11-18 13:48 ` Alan Mackenzie [this message]
[not found] ` <mailman.543.1226877138.26697.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-11-16 23:35 ` Richard Riley
2008-11-16 22:45 ` Xah
[not found] ` <mailman.536.1226871605.26697.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-11-16 23:17 ` Xah
2008-11-17 20:39 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-11-17 23:46 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-11-18 0:31 ` Lennart Borgman
2008-11-18 9:32 ` Kevin Rodgers
2008-11-18 9:58 ` Alan Mackenzie
[not found] ` <mailman.633.1226964831.26697.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-11-18 9:46 ` Fabrice Niessen
[not found] ` <mailman.623.1226954396.26697.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-11-17 22:09 ` Xah
2008-11-18 2:33 ` B. T. Raven
2008-11-18 3:24 ` Xah
2008-11-18 4:58 ` B. T. Raven
2008-11-18 6:54 ` Richard Riley
2008-11-18 4:11 ` Eli Zaretskii
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