bug#1355: suggestion on the modeline

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@IRO.UMontreal.CA>]

>> %p -- print percent of buffer above top of window, or Top, Bot or All.

> How about:

>     %p -- print Top, Bot, All, or how far through the buffer the window
>     is (in percent).  This is 100 * A / (A + B), where A is the number
>     bytes above the window, B the number below it.

>> Also, the same change should be done to %P, shouldn't it?
 
> Hmmm.  :-)  If so, than %p + %P = 100% (modulo rounding errors), and %P
> is kind of redundant.  So, for backwards compatibility, %p and %P should
> remain unchanged, and 100 * A / (A + B) should be attached to a new
> %-construct, say %v.  (Why %v?  Why not?  It's reminiscent of C-v, and
> %M-v.)

You'd have to ask people who use %P: how do they use it?  Why (or what for)?
Maybe it's OK to have %P represent B/(A+B), or maybe a better solution
would be to offer access to A/(A+B) as well as (TOTAL-A-B)/TOTAL
(i.e. percentage of buffer shown).

I don't think it's urgent, so we should take the time to try and figure
out what %P users want.


        Stefan