From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Ted Zlatanov Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Emacs completion matches selection UI Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 16:15:31 -0500 Organization: =?utf-8?B?0KLQtdC+0LTQvtGAINCX0LvQsNGC0LDQvdC+0LI=?= @ Cienfuegos Message-ID: <877gc5fm30.fsf@flea.lifelogs.com> References: <87fvqtg02v.fsf@flea.lifelogs.com> Reply-To: emacs-devel@gnu.org NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1384809306 13265 80.91.229.3 (18 Nov 2013 21:15:06 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 21:15:06 +0000 (UTC) To: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Nov 18 22:15:11 2013 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1ViWA3-0007Hq-1x for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 18 Nov 2013 22:15:11 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:45930 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ViWA2-0007to-Gy for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 18 Nov 2013 16:15:10 -0500 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:48047) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ViW9v-0007ps-JF for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 18 Nov 2013 16:15:08 -0500 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ViW9q-0002PZ-Hk for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 18 Nov 2013 16:15:03 -0500 Original-Received: from plane.gmane.org ([80.91.229.3]:53026) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ViW9q-0002PT-BB for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 18 Nov 2013 16:14:58 -0500 Original-Received: from list by plane.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1ViW9n-0007C6-EW for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 18 Nov 2013 22:14:55 +0100 Original-Received: from c-98-229-61-72.hsd1.ma.comcast.net ([98.229.61.72]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Mon, 18 Nov 2013 22:14:55 +0100 Original-Received: from tzz by c-98-229-61-72.hsd1.ma.comcast.net with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Mon, 18 Nov 2013 22:14:55 +0100 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ Mail-Followup-To: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-Lines: 45 Original-X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: c-98-229-61-72.hsd1.ma.comcast.net X-Face: bd.DQ~'29fIs`T_%O%C\g%6jW)yi[zuz6; d4V0`@y-~$#3P_Ng{@m+e4o<4P'#(_GJQ%TT= D}[Ep*b!\e,fBZ'j_+#"Ps?s2!4H2-Y"sx" Mail-Copies-To: never User-Agent: Gnus/5.130008 (Ma Gnus v0.8) Emacs/24.3.50 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:oC/J50nDjrwoMw+O9Dp0ENJnQ5I= X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Genre and OS details not recognized. X-Received-From: 80.91.229.3 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:165343 Archived-At: On Mon, 18 Nov 2013 22:00:33 +0200 Bozhidar Batsov wrote: BB> On 18 November 2013 18:13, Ted Zlatanov wrote: >> In "(emacs.info) Completion Commands" there is help for using the >> rudimentary buffer to select completion matches. I was struck by how >> hard to use this was, compared to more recent packages like these: >> >> http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/AutoComplete >> http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/CompanyMode >> >> Is there any chance the default Emacs appearance for selecting >> completion matches can be improved (not necessarily by default) for >> 24.4? I would help with this but don't know what's "state of the art" >> and if there's already work in this direction. BB> Unlike auto-complete-mode, Emacs's default completion system is rock-solid. BB> :-) auto-complete uses some pretty messed up popup display library that BB> doesn't play well with many packages. company-mode is much better in this BB> regard. (argh, I shouldn't have said "appearance" above, I meant "UI") I just gave examples, without intending to promote either package. BB> I guess I'm so used to the default completion system that I don't see it as BB> something primitive and hard to work with. That said, it might not be a bad BB> idea to include a "more modern" completion system in Emacs itself, but I'd BB> opt for simplicity and reliability over fancy UIs. The completion system is fine. The selection of matches is the problem: 1) see a new buffer popup with minimal help text and no highlighting 2) left, right, up, down don't work 3) realize problem, switch to candidates buffer (mouse click or `C-x o') 4) select candidate you want, get popped in original buffer That's not simple! It's not intuitive either, forcing me to use the mouse unless I've read the manual node referenced above. An alternative UI doesn't have to be fancy or graphical, only allow me to select from among the candidates immediately, without switching buffers, using the intuitive keys. I hope that explains my request better. Ted