RE: Issues with emacs

["Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com>]

> 1) improve the menu to live up to "moderm" menu standards, so 
> that efffectually everything could
> be done by using the mouse (*but most definitely keep the 
> keyboard shortcuts!!!!!!!). I know that
> this is not possible for all additional packages, but at 
> least the emacs core should be usable
> completely via mouse.
> 
> 2) improve the GUI look, to conform more with a "modern" look
> 
> 3) change the menu, so that there the new users learns to do 
> the stuff by using the mose (and
> introduce the keyboard e.g. in brackets).
> 
> - From my experience: when (or in many cases "if") the new 
> user manages to accept and use way of
> using emacs (now via initially *very strange* keyboard 
> shortcuts) to reach the brilliant features
> and tha land off possibilities hidden behind, they will stay. 
> If the initial crossing of the
> border can be done easier, more users will discover the 
> wonders of emacs.

1. FWIW, I agree with this.  Menus are a great way to discover.  They need to be
well organized, of course.  But given good organization, that organization can
be a tremendous learning aid (and a memory aid).

In my libraries I generally spend time trying to (a) put more stuff on menus,
(b) get the menu item terminology right, and (c) organize the menus well.  Not
that I always succeed (yes, it takes time, thought, and practice using the
resulting menus), but I try.

This is also a motivation behind La Carte (easier keyboard access to menus) and
Icicles (combined with La Carte, access menu items at any level using
substrings, regexps etc.).

http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/LaCarte
http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/EmacsNewbieWithIcicles#toc7

2. Likewise, the mouse.  A direct-access pointing device is a tremendous asset
to human-machine interaction.

(That notion is anathema to some Emacs folk, though you would think that brief
reflection on tape-vs-disk access would be enough to turn on the light.  Yes, of
course Emacs has direct-access key sequences, but a mouse gives you direct
access _anywhere_: look, point to a destination, bam!)

3. There is a place for _both_ (a) in-depth documentation and (b) well designed
keyboard shortcuts, on the one hand, and (c) well designed menus and (d) mouse
interaction, on the other hand.

4. Emacs has moved from only doc and only keyboard (and only console - no
frames) toward incorporation of more "modern" GUI stuff.

But most of that movement happened long, long ago, when those things first
became possible to add to Emacs (back when X Window and window managers in
general were new).  And most of it happened outside the GNU Emacs development
stream and was only incorporated later (and sometimes not too enthusiastically).
Epoch and XEmacs get kudos here, to mention just two.

And yes, there is still a long way to go.

5. If you are interested in going further, please contribute and participate.
It is (as has amply been demonstrated) not enough to whine that Emacs is not
"modern" enough, and to expect the old guard to step up to the plate and do what
you think should be done.  Whether what you want gets done depends on you.

Improving the use of menus and improving doc/help access is approachable by
nearly anyone.  Menu implementation is a bit complicated, and so are keymaps.
But once past the initial hurdle it is not hard to make a concrete
implementation improvement/proposal.  Whether a particular proposal gets adopted
is another story.  But your chances are much higher with code than with abstract
expectations or whining about "modern" and "nowadays" this or that.