Re: [Emacs-diffs] /srv/bzr/emacs/trunk r99650: Put scroll-bar on right by default on UNIX.

[David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org>]

Richard Riley <rileyrgdev@gmail.com> writes:

> Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:
>
>>     I, and most users I suspect, would want the scrollbar on the GUI version
>>     in the same place as the HUGE majority for GUI "X" applications. On the
>>     right.
>>
>> Why do you prefer it on the right?
>> In what way is that advantageous or convenient for you?
>>
>
> Because its in the same position as all other apps on my
> desktop. Arbitrary positioning of any UI element is silly and the
> reasons are well documented.

The positioning is not arbitrary.  You might with more reason argue that
arbitrary bindings of keys are silly, and that Emacs should have the
same bindings as Wordpad.  Because there is some arbitrariness involved
with the choice of keybindings.

But the scrollbar is on the left for a reason: _if_ you use the mouse
for editing, you'll use it more often than not on the left (until Eli's
work gets merged).  And the larger the windows are made horizontally,
the more of a nuisance it is to move the mouse.  In addition, if you use
Athena-style "proportional" scrollbars where you click next to the line
you want to scroll to the top, you can't usefully aim when the scrollbar
is on the right when the text does not run on for a full line (like when
editing shellscripts).

We have proportional scrolling when compiling without toolkit, and with
Xaw.  And Xaw has the default scrollbar on the left for other
applications.  It is really a pity that toolbars are either functional
and well-designed or pretty, but never both.

-- 
David Kastrup