Re: discoverability, better defaults and which-key in Emacs

[Justin Burkett <justin@burkett.cc>]

> If you like which-key's UI (and I don't mind it, aside from the timer
> thing -- seems like it can be more useful than the current
> 'describe-bindings' in many cases), then we could ask the author for
> this different mode of operation, where the timer only tells the user
> how to get this transient menu with hints (pressing C-h), but the menu
> itself isn't shown.
>
> Or more generally we'll have such a timer globally, and the message
> ("use C-h") would be independent from which-key. But which-key can plug
> into the "C-h" binding one way or another, to replace describe-bindings
> if the user configured it this way.

I'm the author of which-key, and I've been following along but don't
have a strong opinion on whether it should be on by default, so I'll
let you all decide.

I should mention in response to the comments above that this feature
is partially implemented through the following setup (from the
README). It simply sets a long delay for the timer and allows you to
use C-h to trigger the popup.

     ;; Allow C-h to trigger which-key before it is done automatically
     (setq which-key-show-early-on-C-h t)
     ;; make sure which-key doesn't show normally but refreshes
quickly after it is
     ;; triggered.
     (setq which-key-idle-delay 10000)
     (setq which-key-idle-secondary-delay 0.05)
     (which-key-mode)

Justin


On Mon, Feb 5, 2024 at 2:17 PM Dmitry Gutov <dmitry@gutov.dev> wrote:
>
> On 05/02/2024 20:47, Philip Kaludercic wrote:
> >>>> What if instead of having the help on a timer, the timer would add a
> >>>> small hint in the echo about how to invoke help (i.e. press C-h)?
> >>> I think that would be a significant improvement if it is to be
> >>> enabled
> >>> by default.  I don't have an issue with the presentation (though the
> >>> transient buffer is my preferred UX).
> >> Is "transient buffer" the same as what which-key uses? I think the
> >> 'transient' package uses similar display.
> > I don't know, what I meant with transient buffer is that it isn't
> > persistent, as is the case with C-h C-h where a new window pops up that
> > is no different than any other window and behaves consistently.
> > Transient buffers, in my experience, usually gobble up all key-presses
> > and re-implement their own "MVC" that can differ in subtle points.
>
> What I'm wondering, is where to do from here.
>
> If you like which-key's UI (and I don't mind it, aside from the timer
> thing -- seems like it can be more useful than the current
> 'describe-bindings' in many cases), then we could ask the author for
> this different mode of operation, where the timer only tells the user
> how to get this transient menu with hints (pressing C-h), but the menu
> itself isn't shown.
>
> Or more generally we'll have such a timer globally, and the message
> ("use C-h") would be independent from which-key. But which-key can plug
> into the "C-h" binding one way or another, to replace describe-bindings
> if the user configured it this way.