From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Christopher G D Tipper" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.bugs Subject: Emacs: a 21st century text-editor Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2005 20:04:02 -0000 Message-ID: <422E0532.13774.47E771@localhost> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1110313351 7507 80.91.229.2 (8 Mar 2005 20:22:31 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 20:22:31 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Tue Mar 08 21:22:30 2005 Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1D8lAn-0007NK-Q2 for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 08 Mar 2005 21:19:22 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1D8lPK-0004PU-VL for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 08 Mar 2005 15:34:23 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1D8lNv-0003qk-DC for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 08 Mar 2005 15:32:56 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1D8lNj-0003jD-O4 for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 08 Mar 2005 15:32:46 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1D8lNg-0003hE-Ro for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 08 Mar 2005 15:32:40 -0500 Original-Received: from [64.233.184.194] (helo=wproxy.gmail.com) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1D8l1M-000136-DQ for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 08 Mar 2005 15:09:36 -0500 Original-Received: by wproxy.gmail.com with SMTP id 36so13485wra for ; Tue, 08 Mar 2005 12:09:35 -0800 (PST) DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com; h=received:from:to:date:mime-version:subject:message-id:return-receipt-to:priority:x-mailer:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-description; b=EekrFYw/enoqjUYmH8a+dHZaXTlBVtPBSW/DOiq1GQs6+/RfoHLjvYfyHEx5iD5fNBbqTlurPZwMRFTcWJZgsAR92eUvMOpQcIHuLJqjGLPx0T/bhpqoNi2NYBhduK8UIAJy/lVuh/cO2Aj+hvn9z7seNVM1rOfO2KM5YG4vS5g= Original-Received: by 10.54.45.14 with SMTP id s14mr96104wrs; Tue, 08 Mar 2005 12:09:30 -0800 (PST) Original-Received: from tigger ([81.78.63.30]) by smtp.gmail.com with ESMTP id 7sm214205wrl.2005.03.08.12.09.27; Tue, 08 Mar 2005 12:09:30 -0800 (PST) Original-To: bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Priority: normal X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (4.21c) Content-description: Mail message body X-BeenThere: bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors" List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org X-MailScanner-To: geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.bugs:10885 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.bugs:10885 Emacs: a 21st century text-editor I have been using emacs for over a year now, and value its power and flexibility. However, I cannot get used to some idiosyncrasies of its behaviour which seem to me to be artifacts of its heritage, rather than components of a piece of modern software. What I am talking about is nothing to do with any superficial features, such as the complex interface nor its architecture. It just seems to be stuck in the 20th century with no sign of any attempt at modernisation. 1 Text-wrapping. Text wrapping is a limitation, and it would be nice to scroll past the edge of the screen. This is particularly acute in my case editing XSLT scripts where line-breaks become a presentational issue. Sometimes I actually need to compose documents with 250 columns, and I don't appreciate emacs telling me otherwise. 2 Shell open. Emacs really ought to be able recognise when the shell is requesting it to open a file. Gnu-client should be unnecessary in a modern application. 3 Tabbed buffers. Open buffers should be easily visible in a tabbed layout below the menu, in the manner of XEmacs. A proper history list would help here so that documents are persistent across sessions. 4 File Dialogs. I use dlgopen.el on Windows, which gets rid of the most serious interface issue of all, the lack of modern file dialogs. It wouldn't be rocket-science to adapt the interface to support this. XEmacs file dialogs are unusable IMHO. 5 Paste replaces edit. This idea that when I paste I end up with both the replacement text and the old text does not belong in the modern idiom. This is a real versioning issue when the replacement text scrolls past the bottom of the screen. I think this is just an old-fashioned feature that never got updated. Best wishes, Christopher Tipper --------------------------------o00o-------------------------------- "Since light travels faster than sound, isn't that why some people appear bright until you hear them speak" - Steve Wright