bug#32536: 24.3; Feature Request: change defaults or behaviour

[hw]

This is not bug report but a change or a feature request:

Please change the default behaviour of the (man) function or the default
value of Man-width to 75 such that manual pages are formatted to a
reasonable width by default.  The same goes for other manuals that are
being formatted before displayed.

Text is best read when it is displayed in about 70--80 characters per
line.  The size of the window the text is displayed in does not change
this.  It is reasonable to assume that users rather have manual pages
displayed with line lengths that make them easy to read than having them
displayed at about 300 characters per line when the window happens to be
full screen or 140 when they have two windows side by side.  When a user
needs wider text, they can still change the default.


As a feature request:

How about changing the effect of Man-width, or an additional setting:
Emacs could usefully format manual pages to fit the window when the
window is narrower than the default width of manual pages (unless the
window is ridiculously narrow, in which case it could fall back to the
default width for manual pages) and format them no wider than the
default width of manual pages for windows that are wider.  It could
also, depending on a(nother) setting(s), dynamically re-format the
manual pages to

min(
    (width_of_window <= ridiculously_narrow) ?
    max_width_of_manual_pages : width_of_window,
    max_width_of_manual_pages
   )

when the window is resized and had been less wide than the maximal width
for manual pages before.

The "max_width_of_manual_pages" could be a range, like 70 to 100,
because it may be desirable to use a couple more characters per line
when the width of the window allows it, without going crazy.  The
default for "ridiculously_narrow" might be like 60.  Of course, this
can all be changed by the user.

This feature might be cool for those who like dynamic (re-)formatting; I
don't think it's much needed.



In GNU Emacs 24.3.1 (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.22.10)
 of 2017-09-20 on c1bm.rdu2.centos.org
Configured using:
 `configure '--build=x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu'
 '--host=x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu' '--program-prefix='
 '--disable-dependency-tracking' '--prefix=/usr' '--exec-prefix=/usr'
 '--bindir=/usr/bin' '--sbindir=/usr/sbin' '--sysconfdir=/etc'
 '--datadir=/usr/share' '--includedir=/usr/include'
 '--libdir=/usr/lib64' '--libexecdir=/usr/libexec'
 '--localstatedir=/var' '--sharedstatedir=/var/lib'
 '--mandir=/usr/share/man' '--infodir=/usr/share/info' '--with-dbus'
 '--with-gif' '--with-jpeg' '--with-png' '--with-rsvg' '--with-tiff'
 '--with-xft' '--with-xpm' '--with-x-toolkit=gtk3' '--with-gpm=no'
 'build_alias=x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu'
 'host_alias=x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu' 'CFLAGS=-DMAIL_USE_LOCKF -O2 -g
 -pipe -Wall -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fexceptions
 -fstack-protector-strong --param=ssp-buffer-size=4
 -grecord-gcc-switches -m64 -mtune=generic' 'LDFLAGS=-Wl,-z,relro ''

Important settings:
  value of $LANG: en_US.UTF-8
  locale-coding-system: utf-8
  default enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: Org

Minor modes in effect:
  diff-auto-refine-mode: t
  shell-dirtrack-mode: t
  show-paren-mode: t
  desktop-save-mode: t
  tags-mode: t
  tooltip-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  size-indication-mode: t
  column-number-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  auto-fill-function: org-auto-fill-function
  transient-mark-mode: t

Recent input:
O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A 
ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC 
O A ESC O A ESC O B ESC O C ESC O B ESC O C C-x b * 
G r TAB RET L C-s C-s ESC O D RET ESC < ESC > ESC O 
A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC 
O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A 
ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC 
O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O B ESC O B 
ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC 
O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B 
ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC 
O B ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A 
ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC 
O A ESC O A RET C-x b RET C-x 1 C-x b e d TAB RET C-s 
d e b C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-a C-s g n u 
C-s C-s C-s C-s C-a ESC x r e p o r TAB RET

Recent messages:
SUBTREE (NO CHILDREN)
FOLDED
Mark saved where search started
No more unseen articles
No more unread articles
Mark set [2 times]
Mark saved where search started [2 times]

Load-path shadows:
None found.

Features:
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url-proxy url-privacy url-expand url-methods url-history url-cookie
url-domsuf url-util url-parse url-vars linum tabify org-table asm-mode
info diff-mode jka-compr gnus-draft debug shell gnus-dup misearch
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gnus-cite flow-fill mm-archive mail-extr gnus-async gnus-bcklg
parse-time qp gnus-ml disp-table utf-7 utf7 rfc2104 tls imap auth-source
eieio nndraft nnmh nnfolder nnml gnus-agent gnus-srvr gnus-score
score-mode nnvirtual gnus-msg gnus-cache gnus-demon nntp gnus-diary
gnus-art mm-uu mml2015 epg-config mm-view mml-smime smime password-cache
dig mailcap nndiary gnus-sum gnus-group gnus-undo nnmail mail-source
nnoo gnus-start gnus-spec gnus-int gnus-range gnus-win gnus gnus-ems
nnheader wid-edit rst compile conf-mode cc-langs cl cc-mode cc-fonts
cc-guess cc-menus cc-cmds cc-styles cc-align cc-engine cc-vars cc-defs
sh-script smie executable eldoc python rx vc-git org-wl org-w3m org-vm
org-rmail org-mhe org-mew org-irc org-jsinfo org-infojs org-html org-exp
ob-exp org-exp-blocks org-agenda org-info org-gnus gnus-util org-docview
org-bibtex bibtex org-bbdb org byte-opt warnings bytecomp byte-compile
cconv ob-tangle ob-ref ob-lob ob-table org-footnote org-src ob-comint
ob-keys org-pcomplete pcomplete comint ansi-color ring org-list
org-faces org-entities noutline outline easy-mmode org-version
ob-emacs-lisp ob org-compat org-macs ob-eval org-loaddefs find-func
cal-menu calendar cal-loaddefs message sendmail format-spec rfc822 mml
mml-sec mm-decode mm-bodies mm-encode mail-parse rfc2231 rfc2047 rfc2045
ietf-drums mm-util mail-prsvr mailabbrev mail-utils gmm-utils mailheader
finder-inf package uniquify advice help-fns cl-lib advice-preload server
two-column edmacro kmacro time-date paren cus-start cus-load desktop
dired fvwm-mode easymenu lsl-mode tooltip ediff-hook vc-hooks
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fringe tabulated-list newcomment lisp-mode register page menu-bar
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facemenu font-core frame cham georgian utf-8-lang misc-lang vietnamese
tibetan thai tai-viet lao korean japanese hebrew greek romanian slovak
czech european ethiopic indian cyrillic chinese case-table epa-hook
jka-cmpr-hook help simple abbrev minibuffer loaddefs button faces
cus-face macroexp files text-properties overlay sha1 md5 base64 format
env code-pages mule custom widget hashtable-print-readable backquote
make-network-process dbusbind dynamic-setting system-font-setting
font-render-setting move-toolbar gtk x-toolkit x multi-tty emacs)

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