From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Alan Mackenzie Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Trouble fontifying /** ... */ Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2009 12:05:33 +0000 Message-ID: <20090201120533.GB1431@muc.de> References: <8d7d1e6d0901252100r3d2c8f5p699cd67b8600fb07@mail.gmail.com> <20090126192020.GC1417@muc.de> <8d7d1e6d0901261804w2791a677xc71fbb74d118c00f@mail.gmail.com> <20090127091908.GA2116@muc.de> <8d7d1e6d0901282102jc6b276btc8f2f1609b07f335@mail.gmail.com> <20090129133316.GA1682@muc.de> <8d7d1e6d0901312017k3811d8aan70ac0baf151361c2@mail.gmail.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1233489255 20790 80.91.229.12 (1 Feb 2009 11:54:15 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:54:15 +0000 (UTC) Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org To: Davin Pearson Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sun Feb 01 12:55:27 2009 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1LTav6-0001cA-7E for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sun, 01 Feb 2009 12:55:24 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:35622 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1LTatn-0005y7-Lv for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sun, 01 Feb 2009 06:54:03 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1LTamG-0002Qt-VI for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 01 Feb 2009 06:46:17 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1LTamF-0002Q0-FL for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 01 Feb 2009 06:46:16 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=60451 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1LTamF-0002PY-6r for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 01 Feb 2009 06:46:15 -0500 Original-Received: from colin.muc.de ([193.149.48.1]:2229 helo=mail.muc.de) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS-1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1LTamE-0003hY-Dl for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 01 Feb 2009 06:46:14 -0500 Original-Received: (qmail 16981 invoked by uid 3782); 1 Feb 2009 11:46:09 -0000 Original-Received: from acm.muc.de (pD9E51C9F.dip.t-dialin.net [217.229.28.159]) by colin2.muc.de (tmda-ofmipd) with ESMTP; Sun, 01 Feb 2009 12:46:07 +0100 Original-Received: (qmail 4116 invoked by uid 1000); 1 Feb 2009 12:05:33 -0000 Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <8d7d1e6d0901312017k3811d8aan70ac0baf151361c2@mail.gmail.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.9i X-Delivery-Agent: TMDA/1.1.5 (Fettercairn) X-Primary-Address: acm@muc.de X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: FreeBSD 4.6-4.9 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:61824 Archived-At: Hi, Davin! On Sun, Feb 01, 2009 at 05:17:54PM +1300, Davin Pearson wrote: > 2009/1/30 Alan Mackenzie : > > Fair question. It actually takes a few seconds multiplied by the > > number of people you do it for. It means doing drudge work, over and > > over again. It is a task which can't be automated. > > And "clicking" on a URL might easily mean copying the URL with the > > mouse, pasting it into a browser, after having had to start X-Windows > > and fire up the browser. Having done this, one has somehow to > > transfer the file to Emacs to look at it. Not everybody is online > > all the time. Richard Stallman is well known for this. There are > > still some people who use a modem and need to pay telephone charges > > by the minute. I often read mail over an SSH link from a Linux text > > terminal. > What about email attachments. Are they acceptable? Sort of, I suppose. But "acceptable" isn't perhaps the best way of looking at it. The posts on help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org are all competing for the attention of people able to answer them. Anything which makes it a hassle to see what somebody is asking about reduces the chances of anybody bothering with this hassle. For me, the sort of post I'm most likely to answer are (i) ones which just need a snappy 1-line answer, often from newbies who're still struggling their way round the manuals; (ii) ones which I feel are my responsibility (involving CC Mode); (iii) ones which look like I'll learn something from. Anything which makes it less obvious what a post's about makes it less likely I'll answer it. The same probably holds for other Emacs developers. > Using cut & paste from Emacs to Gmail splits lines at irrational > positions making it hard to read such text. Ouch! I hate this sort of thing - software which imposes "helpful" features on you. "Hey! Gmail fills text for you AUTOMATICALLY!!!!". Then developers justify it with "but that's what \"most people\" want". Does this line splitting happen when you're composing the email (which you can correct, and isn't too bad, because you're only pasting in a small amount of text ;-), or after you've posted it (which is inexcusable)? Does Gmail perhaps have some options you could set to fix this? Something like "text width" or "automatic filling", or something? Gmail's written by Google, isn't it? I thought they were decent software engineers. How about submitting a bug report to Gmail? And if that doesn't get you anywhere, start using a decent email client instead? Anyhow, any progress with your font-locking stuff? > Sincerely and kindest regards, Davin. > Davin Pearson http://www.davinpearson.com -- Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).