Re: New keybinding suggestion: C-x _ for `shrink-window'

[Bastien <bzg@altern.org>]

"Lennart Borgman (gmail)" <lennart.borgman@gmail.com> writes:

>>   C-x +  `balance-windows'
>>   C-x ^  `enlarge-window'
>
> This is not well defined. There may be 4 different borders to move.

It is well-defined: `enlarge-window' means implicitely enlarge-window
vertically (since enlarge-window-horizontally is a separate function).

And having four borders in a window doesn't mean you can always act on
this four borders.  Actually, in most of the cases, you can vertically
act on only one border, and horizontally act on only one border.  

This is why `enlarge-window' and `shrink-window' are well defined IMHO:
it's pretty rare to have a window with two movable vertical borders or
two movable horizontal borders.

>>   C-x -  `shrink-window-if-larger-than-buffer'
>
> Same as above.

Why?  Please show me an example when it doesn't behave as the user would
expect. 

>> My point is precisely that C-x + is fine as it is.
>
> And mine is that resizing windows should not occupy more human memory
> and key binding space if possible. "C-x + +" is nearly as easy as "C-x
> +" to type.

Don't get me wrong: I do think bw-interactive.el is useful when you need
to do complex resizing.  But we more often need to do simple resizing so
simply adjusting the window size with the native keybindings is fine.

And `C-x + +' uses more human memory than `C-x +', no?

>> Again, it's more intuitive to me that C-x + <up> increase the
>> vertical size of the window immediately.
>
> See above. You have to decide which border to act on first.

But can't you make the <left> arrow key be at the same time the decision
(resize from the left border) *and* the action (move left)? And drop the
action in case it has no sense in the current window configuration?  

>> Which one?  I'm using ratpoison.  C-t C-r does the job of your C-x +,
>> then C-f will enlarge the ratpoison-window immediately, no need to
>> press C-f twice.
>
> Eh, I am using w32. Do you mean that ratpoison interfere with Emacs key
> bindings?

No.  I mean that in ratpoison you have the same window configuration
than the one in Emacs, and resizing a window just takes one keystroke;
you don't need to decide what border to move first, then how to move it.

> I tried to explain above. Is it clear now? (Or have I perhaps missed
> something?)

Sorry but it's not clearer... any example would perhaps be useful.
Maybe I just miss something very obvious myself.

> Thanks, I will add a message when exiting the minor mode then.

Great, thanks.

-- 
Bastien