From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: martin rudalics Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: display-buffer-alist simplifications Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2011 20:39:53 +0200 Message-ID: <4E2B1579.3020202@gmx.at> References: <87mxgem09k.fsf@stupidchicken.com> <4E2A7EBD.7050300@gmx.at> <8339hxe735.fsf@gnu.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1311446408 10888 80.91.229.12 (23 Jul 2011 18:40:08 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2011 18:40:08 +0000 (UTC) Cc: cyd@stupidchicken.com, emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Eli Zaretskii Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sat Jul 23 20:40:03 2011 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([140.186.70.17]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1Qkh7K-0001y8-7g for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 23 Jul 2011 20:40:02 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:55830 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Qkh7J-0003UN-FM for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 23 Jul 2011 14:40:01 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([140.186.70.92]:40288) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Qkh7H-0003UI-Dg for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 23 Jul 2011 14:40:00 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Qkh7G-00077i-KM for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 23 Jul 2011 14:39:59 -0400 Original-Received: from mailout-de.gmx.net ([213.165.64.23]:53463) by eggs.gnu.org with smtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Qkh7G-00077a-3x for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 23 Jul 2011 14:39:58 -0400 Original-Received: (qmail invoked by alias); 23 Jul 2011 18:39:56 -0000 Original-Received: from 62-47-59-131.adsl.highway.telekom.at (EHLO [62.47.59.131]) [62.47.59.131] by mail.gmx.net (mp065) with SMTP; 23 Jul 2011 20:39:56 +0200 X-Authenticated: #14592706 X-Provags-ID: V01U2FsdGVkX1/NsMssi2jNDEqspDNVKaCeoLwYKWZTg4176ZgJ6/ qiJ+rtMAfUZx2a User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.21 (Windows/20090302) In-Reply-To: <8339hxe735.fsf@gnu.org> X-Y-GMX-Trusted: 0 X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Genre and OS details not recognized. X-Received-From: 213.165.64.23 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:142236 Archived-At: > A comment from a naive bystander: these values are getting more and > more close to Lisp code than to a value of a user variable. Aren't we > burdening users with too much Lisp-like structures for options that > are supposed to be easily customizable by people who don't know Lisp? > I mean, using a single level of parentheses around some list, or the > `setq' syntax, is one thing -- users can still form some simple mental > model of that which doesn't require understanding of Lisp. But the > above is something else: they are nested, with some lists requiring > '() quoting, others not, some members use `:', others don't, some are > cons cells, others lists; etc. > > If we cannot find a simpler syntax, perhaps we should provide an > interactive function for customizing display-buffer's behavior, some > kind of wizard that would lead the user through a series of questions > with detailed description of the result of each setting, and in the > end generate the value needed for the user-specified behavior. (The > series of questions could be expressed as a nifty GUI dialog with > check-boxes in GUI sessions.) Most of these are completely hidden by the customization interface. In particular, the user of the latter should not be aware of the underlying Lisp-like structures, cons cells, lists, `:'. Maybe you could try customizing `display-buffer-alist' at least once just in order to tell me how a naive bystander might react. martin