From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Chong Yidong Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Emacs for new users Date: Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:37:35 -0500 Message-ID: <87ocmrpy4w.fsf@stupidchicken.com> References: <912155b0911230837i48326730m82e0d54d4004be59@mail.gmail.com> <485b0c380911230905t6513e718w1dd804e18003228@mail.gmail.com> <6E092AF13796494BADEBCE2C5C0361CE@us.oracle.com> <87skc3g7f8.fsf@stupidchicken.com> <7b501d5c0911240951q33cd90ffjc5d2505ca9f39734@mail.gmail.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1259087889 10308 80.91.229.12 (24 Nov 2009 18:38:09 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:38:09 +0000 (UTC) Cc: rms@gnu.org, Lennart Borgman , Stephen Eilert , emacs-devel@gnu.org, per@starback.se, Drew Adams To: Deniz Dogan Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Tue Nov 24 19:38:01 2009 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1ND0H1-0007Hl-Qg for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:38:00 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:56124 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1ND0H1-0003bq-Cf for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:37:59 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1ND0Gt-0003Zs-B3 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:37:51 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1ND0Go-0003SS-H6 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:37:50 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=38852 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1ND0Go-0003SP-AN for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:37:46 -0500 Original-Received: from pantheon-po42.its.yale.edu ([130.132.50.101]:35780) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS-1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1ND0Gf-0001tI-8P; Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:37:37 -0500 Original-Received: from furry (dhcp128036014119.central.yale.edu [128.36.14.119]) (authenticated bits=0) by pantheon-po42.its.yale.edu (8.12.11.20060308/8.12.11) with ESMTP id nAOIbZbC031132 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT); Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:37:35 -0500 Original-Received: by furry (Postfix, from userid 1000) id 710DDC071; Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:37:35 -0500 (EST) In-Reply-To: <7b501d5c0911240951q33cd90ffjc5d2505ca9f39734@mail.gmail.com> (Deniz Dogan's message of "Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:51:28 +0100") User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.1.50 (gnu/linux) X-YaleITSMailFilter: Version 1.2c (attachment(s) not renamed) X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.4-2.6 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:117700 Archived-At: Deniz Dogan writes: > 2009/11/24 Chong Yidong : >> Lennart Borgman writes: >> >>> What I meant was that they should not be allowed to leave the >>> minibuffer and go to another window. This is similar to how many GUI >>> programs work. >> >> This is a limitation of other programs. > > It is nevertheless possibly confusing to newcomers when they > accidentally exit the minibuffer. I remember getting bit by that a lot > myself when I was new to Emacs (which is not that long ago). There are plenty of people that consider modal dialogs a usability problem, and are trying to reduce their use in other applications. (And these are applications typically aren't anywhere nearly as text-centric as Emacs, where it's a real benefit to be able to switch windows and manipulate text without destroying your minibuffer contents.) I think the disadvantages of increased modality quite clearly outweigh any advantage.