From: Xah <xahlee@gmail.com>
To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
Subject: Re: emacs mode line suggestions
Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:45:31 -0800 (PST) [thread overview]
Message-ID: <627587d5-4c9f-4b49-a497-d6a1edb92fc7@v13g2000pro.googlegroups.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: mailman.518.1226859137.26697.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
On Nov 16, 10:12 am, Ian Eure <i...@digg.com> wrote:
> > Counting emacs's own buffers, those info, messages, scratch,
> > completions, grep output, shell output, C-h f and friends output,
> > dictionary lookup output, ispell output, man page output ... etc...
> > these are typically looked once and not useful afterwards. Switching
> > and cycling thru them are not much useful.
>
> I basically agree with this stuff. I doubt many hardcore Emacs users
> choose to switch buffers this way, which requires using the mouse. And
> the part of the behavior that is least useful is that the switch is
> blind - you don't know what buffer you're going to get unless you know
> the current state of the buffer-list.
>
> My objection is to the idea that you don't want star buffers in the
> list. These are also used for interaction with external processes:
> *ssh: host*, *SQL: foo*, *Twit-recent*, *compilation*, *shell*,
> *Python*. It seems ill advised to exclude those from the list.
what's *Twit-recent*?
anyhow, you are right that including them would be good too.
> > • Minor mode should not be displayed in mode line. It's confusing. For
> > one reason, it by default selectively display only some of the minor
> > modes currently on, and the selective process is not something people
> > who intuitively understands. For the other reason, Emacs's technical
> > concept of Minor mode is somewhat confusing. Most minor modes in
> > practice are Preferences settings (Mac-speak) or Options (Windows-
> > speak and Linux Desktops) from user point of view.
>
> Where would you suggest showing this information? Some minor modes
> change Emacs' behavior significantly. For example: auto-fill-mode or
> abbrev-mode. If these aren't in the mode line, where do you find this
> information?
perhaps in the Options menu.
> >>> • Clicking on the major mode name should pop up a contextual menu to
> >>> let user switch to major major modes.
>
> >> Switching a major mode is a very rare command, so having this at your
> >> fingertips makes no sense, IMO.
>
> > switching between modes is not rarely used. I'd estimate it is used
> > every other hour at least.
>
> Can you describe the use case where you do this? It sounds like you
> have a configuration issue, honestly.
>
> I think the only time I manually switch modes is when I need to use
> *scratch* for something, e.g. I'll switch to emacs-lisp-mode if I want
> to eval some code, sql-mode if I want to write a query, etc.
same here.
switching to the right mode is often needed for those who uses
*scratch* or creating a new file Ctrl+x Ctrl+f, or new buffer.
in almost all modern editors, there are menu to switch to the rigth
language mode. Providing a menu probably ease up learning curve for
new users. (note that in Aquamacs this is done.) I think it is a
frequently requested feature. A new user, who are not yet familiar
with emacs M-x command and common mode names, has no way to know how
to switch mode or what are available.
Xah
∑ http://xahlee.org/
☄
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2008-11-16 22:45 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
[not found] ` <mailman.543.1226877138.26697.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-11-16 23:35 ` Richard Riley
2008-11-16 22:45 ` Xah [this message]
[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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