Re: on interface and behavior

[Wayne Harris via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor <help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2021 18:38:08 -0300
>> From: Wayne Harris via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor
>> <help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
>> 
>> (*) The case of frames in Windows
>> 
>> Speaking of which, FWIW, I have gone through extra lengths to try to get
>> frames to show up more consistently on Windows.  Windows has no
>> reasonable window manager, so that's left for the applications
>> themselves.  Most windows programs save their window sizes and position
>> before quitting and restore when they come back alive.  The GNU Emacs
>> does not.
>
> Emacs can save and restore the frame geometry if you use the
> desktop.el package to resume your sessions.  This is in the manual.

Desktop.el isn't a very satisfactory solution because of flickering.
The GNU Emacs initial frame shows up in a certain place and position and
then resizes and move somewhere else.  But maybe the registry --- which
you mentioned below --- would be a nice solution.

[...]

>> You can specify geometry-related options for just the initial
>> frame by setting this variable in your init file; however, they
>> won’t take effect until Emacs reads your init file, which happens
>> after creating the initial frame.  If you want the initial frame
>> to have the proper geometry as soon as it appears, you need to
>> use this three-step process:
>> * Specify X resources to give the geometry you want.
>> * Set ‘default-frame-alist’ to override these options so that they
>>   don’t affect subsequent frames.
>> * Set ‘initial-frame-alist’ in a way that matches the X resources,
>>   to override what you put in ‘default-frame-alist’.
>> 
>> [back]
>> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
>> 
>> One last bullet could mention the full syntax of --geometry.  Maybe
>> --help could as well: it doesn't.
>> 
>> (*) A suggested approach for Windows
>> 
>> I believe the problem could be solved for Windows specifically by
>> restoring the size and position of the initial-frame in w32-win.el.  Of
>> course, the size and position should be saved before exit.
>
> Emacs on MS-Windows emulates X resources by storing them in the
> Registry.  This is also described in the user manual, which see.  So
> you can have this feature even without desktop.el, if you want.

Thanks.  I will check that.

> P.S.  One thing I learned about Emacs a long time ago is that for any
> issue that might worry you, it is likely that someone already solved
> it in Emacs.  So the first thing I do when U bump into such annoyances
> is to search the manual and the built-in documentation for similar
> features.  Usually, I find a solution that is ready to be used; I
> stopped being amazed by that long time ago.

You're totally right.  That has always been my experience too, but it
evidently didn't change my bad habits yet. :-)