Using Emacs on small-display devices

[Ilya Zakharevich <nospam-abuse@ilyaz.org>]

> On Sun, May 30, 2010 at 7:27 AM, Ken Hori <fplemma@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Is there any way to move the modeline, and the minibuffer line,
>> of a frame from the bottom to the top?

On 2010-05-30, Lennart Borgman <lennart.borgman@gmail.com> wrote:
> No, if you do not want to rewrite the display engine in Emacs.

I think the important things are the following abilities:

 a) separate the message area and minibuffer;

 b) overlay the message area and modeline (message replaces file name?);

 c) put a "pseudo-menubar" icon on modeline: clicking on it pops up a
    popup-equivalent of menubar (i.e., vertical vs horizontal layout);

 c') put modeline on top, since it is where one expects such icons;

 d) ability to make a minibuffer overlaid "on top of" modeline, so it
    does not take place when not needed.

 e) ability to make emacs full-screen (no border, no taskbar visible);

 f) ability to switch between two layouts (one as above, one "usual")
    by one keypress.

This way one would be able to use 4 more lines for editing (crucial on
smaller average screens of today devices).

I think some of these must be trivial even today, some may require a
minor rewrite of the display engine...

Hope this helps,
Ilya