RE: use-package

[Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com>]

> >> For example, diminishing minor modes -- I think we have overloaded the
> >> functionality of minor modes; many (company say, or eldoc) you either
> >> want on or off. Do I really need mode-line space to be taken up telling
> >> me that company is one? And is the mode-line the only place we can
> >> display this information?
> >
> > There are of course ways (e.g. packages) to reduce the mode-line
> > indications.  But I think it might be good if vanilla Emacs provided
> > a simple way for a user to not display particular lighters (mode
> > indications in the mode-line).
> 
> I don't think this is the right solution. Asking the user to choose
> which lighters to hide is just passing the buck.

Of course I did not mean obligating the user to manage lighters.
I do advocate making it easier for users to manage them, if they
want to.

> Currently my mode lighter is
> 
> Message pab MML yas Helm Abbrev Fill Narrow
> 
> pab == pabbrev is my own abbrev mode, but diminished
> MML == is attachement
> yas == yasnippet diminished
> Helm == Completion
> Abbrev == Another abbrev expansion
> Fill == auto fill.
> Narrow == is narrowing
> 
> Of these, pab is global, so why show it?

Why might a user want to show the lighter for a global minor
mode?  Some minor modes you will turn on and off, perhaps
even frequently.  For some of those you might well want to
know whether it is on or off.

This is no different than for a local minor mode, such as
overwrite mode.  You might well want to know whether a
particular mode is on.

It can depend on the mode and on the user.  There is no
one-size-fits-all, IMHO.  And that is true of global modes
as well as local ones.

> Only "Fill" tells me anything useful, since I turn this on and off in
> the same buffer, and "Message", since knowing the mode is good.

What's useful to see depends on the user and on the context.
That's really the point, IMO.

A library can of course choose not to have a lighter for some
mode (local or global).  But in the end, users too need to be
able to easily adjust things to suit their tastes and needs.